You would expect that any player will be an overwhelming success if a club agrees to spend big money on them, but it does feel like opinions are split on Ben Chilwell.
The Guardian have confirmed that Chelsea have signed the Leicester left back for a fee of £50m, so for that amount you have to expect that he will immediately replace Marcos Alonso as the starter.
He played in 27 games for Leicester last season and generally looked impressive, but some fans will look at their slide down the table after the restart and wonder if that’s affected his stock a bit.
READ MORE: How Chelsea’s new defence will look next season with Ben Chilwell and two additional signings
He looks like a player who is tidy on the ball and he likes to get forward – but Marcos Alonso did that as well – so what Chelsea need is a player who can also provide a solid defensive presence.
Time will tell if he’s worth the money, but a quick look on Twitter shows that opinion is split on how good he actually is:
Only speaking facts ? no doubt Chilwell is a massive upgrade on Alonso and Emerson and improves the team greatly as a whole, even if he’s not the flashy signing some wanted
— BlueInTheFace (@TheLiquidator_) August 26, 2020
As a Leicester fan Mark. They are buying a worse left back than Alonso. Their defuse has got worse. Chilwell is well overrated. We’re gonna get Tagliafico from Ajax to replace him who is better.
— LCFCtn (@LCFCtn) August 26, 2020
Chilwell – forget the price tag and you can see they have upgraded on Emerson and Alonso. Their re build is impressive so far tbh
— B R A D (@BraddersAfc) August 26, 2020
That Chelsea’s defense needs more solidity.
I don’t think Chilwell will offer more defensively, maybe a little upgrade on Marcos Alonso sha.
Tagliafico would have been a perfect buy, IMO.
— Seun Oreks (@TheSeunOreks) August 26, 2020
Is Chilwell an upgrade on Alonso? Yes. Can he defend? No. Were there better alternatives at that price? Of course lol.
— Daberechi (@bigdabby_) August 26, 2020
Marcos Alonso to me is better than Ben Chilwell
— Temitope (@olanipekuntope_) August 26, 2020
Not a fan of Chilwell but at least we won’t see Alonso starting the game week in week out.
— Aldy Anggriawan (@aldyanggriawan) August 26, 2020
Is Chilwell even better than Alonso?
— ™? (@D20048) August 26, 2020
Ben Chilwell
Not my ideal choice to fix the LB position but he is only 23 and is Frank’s first choice.
He is an upgrade on both Alonso and Emerson and has a ton of room to improve and has time on his side.
Hand picked by the greatest LB to grace the PL – Ashley cole#CFC pic.twitter.com/H3sK9jJC0F
— CFCSyed (@AbbAreef) August 26, 2020
It’s an interesting one because there seems to be a feeling that Marcos Alonso was so bad that anyone else would be an improvement, but that’s not really a ringing endorsement of a new signing.
It’s important to give him a few games to settle in to the Chelsea team before properly judging him, and it will be exciting to see how he gets on.
Given that Alonso was much better than Emerson, who they get £20m for, and Chilwell is the England first choice LB, it’s really a no brainer, despite what Leicester fans would like us to think