2 months ago
18 Christian Falk’s latest update on Jonathan Tah isn’t exactly good reading for Chelsea fans.
The BILD reporter did note that the Blues’ interest in the Bayer Leverkusen defender is clear – hence the side’s ‘dossier’ – though it seems there’s a good chance they’ll miss out on his signing.
Owing to the increasing pressure on Premier League clubs to comply with financial regulations, the Stamford Bridge-based outfit has imposed a new wage framework that would likely prohibit them from landing the Bundesliga title-winner.
Bayern Munich, for the record, made significant headway with the player, having previously secured an agreement on personal terms.
“Bayern Munich are still interested in completing a move for Jonathan Tah next year by which point he’ll become a free agent,” Falk told The Daily Briefing.
“It wasn’t possible to sign him this summer, as Bayern’s supervisory board said he would be too expensive a potential incoming if they couldn’t also offload Kingsley Coman in the same window. However, if he’s a free agent – there’s a big chance to get him! They already had an agreement on the potential contract (€9m plus €3m in add-ons) – not bad money!”
“Chelsea were always interested in Tah. They have a dossier on the centre-back and have followed his whole career, but because of the financial pressure the Premier League now also feels, they made a decision internally that new players should just earn £70,000-a-week (£3.64m/€4.3m a year). So, you see, that’s perhaps a third of the amount Bayern would be prepared to pay for him, so it will be very hard for Chelsea to get Jonathan Tah next summer.”
Chelsea return to Premier League action this Saturday with a 12:30pm kick-off against West Ham United.
What do the stats say about Tah?
Jonathan Tah in action for Germany during the UEFA Nations League – (Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images)Given that Enzo Maresca’s side was consistently linked with centre-backs in the summer, it’s unsurprising that they’d consider turning to a quality potential free agent in Tah.
The 28-year-old is one of the most experienced defenders in Europe and an accomplished, if somewhat safe, operator on the ball. FBref have the footballer down as one of the more reliable options across Europe’s top five leagues when it comes to possession.
Tah ranks in the 99th percentile for pass completion and boasts a reasonable, if not Virgil van Dijk-esque, level of aerial dominance (winning 69.2% of his aerial duels – against his average of 81.8% this term so far).
It’s a shame Chelsea potentially won’t capitalise on the availability of the German international in the coming windows.
