Chelsea’s new £26m boy dubbed ‘Desailly clone’ wowed Pochettino on debut at 17

Pochettino states aims for Chelsea after taking over as manager

Chelsea are set to land Mauricio Pochettino’s own second summer signing after striking a £26million deal for French talent Lesley Ugochukwu, a player not known by many outside of his native France. The Blues have been frustrated in their pursuit of Brighton star Moises Caicedo over his £100m price tag and the capture of Ugochukwu, one of the brightest talents in Ligue 1, could prove to be a masterstroke after he dazzled Pochettino on his full debut when the Argentinian was at PSG.

Born in Rennes to Nigerian parents in March 2004, Ugochukwu is the nephew of former OGC Nice, Rennes and Nigeria centre-back Onyekachi Apam. He had been with the Brittany-based outfit from the age of eight, but now looks set to continue his footballing education in west London to become the club’s fifth summer signing.

The Blues have been consciously assembling a squad built for the future, signing talented players under the age of 21 on long-term contracts with an expectation that will either feature for Chelsea in the coming years or be sold on for a tidy profit. And the plan for Ugochukwu remains unclear, with reports he could go on loan to Todd Boehly’s newly-acquired Ligue 1 club RC Strasbourg.

Pochettino might object to that, having already seen Ugochuwku in action once before when he was left wholly impressed with his performance on his debut back in May 2021.

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Ugochukwu’s move has been two years in the making ever since he made his full debut for Rennes against PSG when he was only 17. At the time, the youngster was a raw talent plucked from the same Rouge et Noir academy that also produced Eduardo Camavinga.

But with Steven Nzonzi and Camavinga both suspended for Rennes’ clash at home to champions PSG, his manager at the time, Bruno Genesio, had no qualms with throwing him in at the deep end against the likes of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe for his full debut.

From there, his career took off and Ugochuwku never looked back.

Throughout the game, his imposing presence in the midfield made it difficult for Neymar to float around in the central areas, with the young midfielder bodying the Brazilian at one point with an incredible show of strength. As a defender converted into a midfielder, that came as no surprise, but Pochettino certainly would have noticed his all-action display from the touchline.

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Those that know Ugochukwu describe him as a humble player who keeps his feet firmly planted on the ground. But few would have blamed him for getting carried away after he was dubbed a ‘clone’ of France legend Marcel Desailly, who also played for Chelsea in his glittering career, by his academy coaches.

“He’s a very well-educated young man, surrounded by good people, and he never gets ahead of himself,” ex-Rennes academy director, Landry Chauvin, said of Ugochukwu as quoted by the Ligue 1 website.

Being likened to Desailly would have been quite the honour for Ugochukwu, but he clearly saw his future further forward on the pitch after revealing he based his game on two other Les Bleus icons: “When I was small, I would watch the skills of players like [Paul] Pogba and [Patrick] Vieira on YouTube,” he told The Athletic in June. “They inspired me a lot because of the way they play.”

Chelsea have been desperate to add some new bodies to their midfield after Pochettino made a plea to Todd Boehly for “at least one midfielder”, following the departures of Mateo Kovacic, N’Golo Kante and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

So far, their attempts to recruit Caicedo have proved futile, forcing Pochettino to make do with the talented pairing of Andrey Santos and Cesare Casadei in pre-season.

But Ugochukwu offers something different. At 6’2, he is a physical phenomenon, showcasing a rare combination of aggression and elegance in the middle of the park to make him the perfect all-rounder. And if he can continue developing at Chelsea, Pochettino knows he might just have another gem on his hands to solve his problems.

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