Chelsea transfer news: The Blues need to sign the next Thibaut Courtois not Simon Mignolet as Mauricio Pochettino reality is clear.
With 10 minutes to go a desperate Inter Milan side continued to play from the back in a style that suggested Simone Inzaghi would have many suitors watching on interested. Whilst Manchester City did their thing and powered their way through grit and determination to a first-ever Champions League win, Inter were left to do as everyone expected, play second fiddle.
They arguably had the better chances in the game. Had Romelu Lukaku – more on him to come – found his 2020 form as a second-half substitute rather than the clumsy one that would somehow fail to break any china as a bull in a china shop when he came on, the game might have gone beyond 90 minutes.
Yet, despite the fight from Inter, who were already overwhelming underdogs of the likes perhaps never seen in a European final before, they didn’t exactly standout in any particular way. Their defence was resolute but had poor City decisions to thank on occasion. Their counter-attacks were often disjointed and slow, their finishing was comical.
They did somehow manage to stop the inevitable threat of Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering side from making a mockery of this, though. It wasn’t really thanks to their natural stars, either. Lautaro Martinez wasn’t at his most impressive, neither was Alessandro Bastoni. Denzel Dumfries and Nicolo Barella did well but not in the kind of ‘come and get my, Chelsea’ way that fans may have gone in expecting.
The standout was, perhaps inversely to the discussion of not bowing down to City entirely, Andre Onana.
The fact that he is genuinely discussed as an option for Chelsea in 2023 is in itself a shock and also a testiment to the player. Banned for taking the wrong-type of painkiller after a game for Ajax in 2020 he lost sight of a promising career that had seen him become one of the top-young goalkeepers out there.
He was the relatively untouched member of Ajax’s ransacked 2019 Champions League God squad. It wasn’t until last summer that he moved away from Holland. At 26 he was now a bargain on a free transfer and has worked his way back up after 12 months out of the game.
The mental strength was on show during that period and since was displayed in the final minutes in Istanbul. As Inter pushed for an equaliser that baseline metrics will say they deserved. Onana was playing as a centre-back. Straight from the Barcelona academy and Dutch school of thinking – two clear elements of his career coming out evidently in this one micro-action – he picked up possession in-between Alessandro Bastoni and Francesco Acerbi.
This isn’t just your standard ‘sweeper-keeper’ getting some light touches on the edge of his own box, acting as a make-shift pivot behind the defence, this was another centre-back. Acerbi pushed on up the field, gave height and new options, a genuine overload. It came from Onana’s courage and bravery.
These are Mauricio Pochettino buzzwords and four years on from facing Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the Champions League, Onana’s potential future lying in west London makes sense. This was the young keeper they wanted at the time, it was the mentality and potential they thought had come from Kepa Arrizabalaga, it is mixed in with aerial dominance of Edouard Mendy.
Onana is a thoroughly well-rounded goalkeeper. With a commanding presence, experience to match his coloured and excellent youth progression and the nerve to not only play from deep but act out of position, the fact that he is on the list of potential options this summer is no surprise.
Of those to play more than 20 games in Serie A this season only Mike Maignanan, 21, conceded fewer than Onana’s 24 goals. He is sixth in the list of goals against per90 (fewer being better) and has an impressive save percentage as well. His clean sheet percentage was well above average and competing with Maignan across the board.
The Frenchman, part of AC Milan’s unsuccessful semi-final opposition to Inter this season in Europe, is another that football.london understands the club are looking for a new option under Pochettino. He will be trickier to prize away from San Siro. Onana would be more than a handy alternative.
With Tottenham closing in on David Raya, another player football.london believes the club have shown interest in, they have found themselves a player that suits them better. In Pochettino, the Blues now have a coach who demands slick passing from the back as well as arrowing passes. His 10 long balls was more than Ederson, widely claimed to be the best in the world at his art.
Had it not been for a late flurry, there was little between the two No1s throughout. Onana stood tall to deny Erling Haaland in the first half and showed the other side to his game when becoming active as an effective defender in the second. His coolness in possession would make him a valuable asset for Pochettino.
As the coach instructs his sides to operate with split centre-backs and full-backs advancing, Onana’s role in the base of any backline creates new options on the ball. There is a need for a defensive destroyer also capable of playing smoothly and preferably with the ability to arrive late into the box and score – Rodri or Declan Rice, Chelsea need Rodri or Rice and there’s no two ways about it – but these don’t grow on trees.
Onana offers an output that may well reduce this midfield strain and even open up new avenues. Even with Lukaku on the pitch there was a sense that the 27-year-old was the real Inter player that Chelsea should be most keen to have on their books this season.
In him they have a player with years of top-level football ahead of them and also someone who can continue to grow. As a keeper and someone excellent in Europe there is less fear of falling foul to new Premier League demands. He is a character that sweats confidence and has the air of a player able to go further, too good for even the Champions League final.
Raya is a good option but for £40m there remain questions. He conceded more than Kepa Arrizabalaga from outside the box and hasn’t had the chance to be tested in a dominant possession side. For Chelsea they need the next Thibaut Courtois, a player to dominate and command. Spurs’ potential new recruit feels closer to Simon Mignolet’s move to Liverpool.
There are good, young keepers that make sense, Raya would have done so for Chelsea but in Onana they have the vision of someone that is more of a fit for the current squad. Unlike 2019 when he was young, 2020 when he was banned and last summer when Mendy’s downfall was not yet true of itself, there is no excuse not to make Onana a serious candidate heading into the transfer window.
