Do Chelsea need Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall?
It has been reported that contact has been made with Leicester City regarding the midfielder, with Enzo Maresca potentially eyeing a reunion with his former player.
It is fair to say that Chelsea are well stocked when it comes to central midfielders. Despite some initial teething problems, the duo of Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo have become the Blue’s go-to midfielder pairing, with the likes of Conor Gallagher, Cesare Casadei, Carney Chukwuemeka, and Lesley Ugochukwu also featuring in the middle of the pitch this season.
There’s also Romeo Lavia coming back from an almost season-long spell on the sidelines, and Andrey Santos rejoining the squad after an impressive loan spell with Ligue 1 side Strasbourg. On top of this, you also have the wealth of midfield talent within the Chelsea academy, with Michael Golding and Jimi Tauriainen earning their first minutes for the senior team during 2023/24.
With all these options, Chelsea’s squad depth in the central-midfielder role is beginning to feel quite claustrophobic, and some departures, whether temporary or permanent, will have to be made to remedy this situation.
However, despite this midfield surplus, it has been reported by David Ornstein that the Blues have expressed an interest in Leicester City’s, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
Who is Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall?
The Nottingham-born midfielder has been part of Leicester City since 2006, where he joined at under-8 level. After winning the club’s Development Squad Player of the Year in 2017 and 2019, he headed out on loan to Blackpool and Luton Town at the beginning of the decade before becoming a fixture of the first team from 2021-22.
Alas, his early career provided many middling performances, with the Englishman only able to pick up a handful of goal contributions a season, but he would soon reach new levels under Maresca’s Championship-winning 2023/24 season.
Dewsbury-Hall achieved 12 goals and 14 assists during Maresca’s sole season at the helm of Leicester City, with the midfielder winning the club’s Player of the Season in the process. Dewsbury-Hall’s attacking prowess was also shown by his 5 key passes and 3.9 progressive carries per 90.
Like almost all players, his game has some notable floors too, with the midfielder only able to record around 1 block and 1 tackle per 90. A glaring flaw for a now-Premier League midfielder.
Could Dewsbury-Hall fit in Maresca’s new-look Chelsea side?
Currently? No.
There are just too many players in Chelsea’s current set-up to allow for the addition of Dewsbury-Hall. Whilst he could be a decent understudy to Fernandez, who offers a bit more in the final third, someone would have to miss out. Not just deadwood from the previous owners as was the case last season (Jorginho, N’Golo Kante, and Mateo Kovacic), but a player hand-picked by the current Clearlake owners, which they wouldn’t get rid off that quickly. Or would they?
Does the interest in Dewsbury-Hall (and by extension, Leeds’ Archie Grey) suggest a drastic midfield shake-up, rather than a recruitment oversight? Possibly.
It is no secret that Chelsea might be tempted to sell Gallagher this season, in an attempt to obtain some ‘pure profit’ for their books, as well as fund transfers for other areas of the pitch. As well as Gallagher, it seems Chelsea are planning to offload Ugochukwu on loan, due to the club allowing him to miss pre-season and join up with the France team for this summer’s Olympic games.
Furthermore, the owners may also be willing to cut ties with some of their initial player purchases, most notably Casadei. The Italian midfielder has failed to impress since joining in 2022, mainly due to lackluster loan spells at Reading and Leicester, as well as having little effect when coming on for the Blues in the second half of the season. The reasoning to sell the midfielder is only further boosted by interest from Italian club, Lazio.
And these are just the transfer rumours the public are aware of.
So with 3 (or more) midfielders potentially leaving this window, there could be room for Dewsbury-Hall, and the interest expressed by Chelsea could signify said midfield transfer merry-go-round.
Or it could just be a glaring oversight by the higher-ups.
At this point in time both options seem viable… which is quite worrying.