Martin Keown believes Benoit Badiashile has been Chelsea’s best January signing so far and was surprised by the young defender’s Champions League squad omission.
Five Chelsea new signings featured against Fulham last Friday, but it was still not enough to win.
The new signings understandably need a period of adaptation, but if Chelsea are to continue their hunt for a top-four finish, they will have to get the best out of these players sooner rather than later.
Blues’ two most expensive signings; Enzo Fernandez and Mykhailo Mudryk, looked promising in their respective Premier League debut.
Keown, however, has been more impressed by Badiashile, who joined from AS Monaco at a relatively low cost.
“[Mudryk] wasn’t really in the game,” the former Arsenal centre-back told talkSPORT when speaking about Chelsea’s draw with Fulham.
“[Noni] Madueke then came on. Lots of flashes, lots of good moments, but [wasn’t] really impacting the game too much.
“The central defender, Badiashile, actually was probably the best player I saw among [Chelsea’s recent] purchases.”
Keown later added: “The central defender that we’ve talked about being such a good player is not even listed in the Champions League group.
“How does that really work out? Who made that decision?”
Badiashile has clearly exceeded expectations as he helped Chelsea keep three consecutive clean sheets since his arrival.
The decision to pick Mudryk and Joao Felix ahead of him in the Champions League was likely because Potter was not satisfied with his attacking options.
The Blues have been the lowest-scoring team in the top half of the Premier League table this season, and Chelsea need all the firepower they can get to have any chance against Europe’s elites.
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