Chelsea have spent a lot of money to buy defender Axel Disasi, who with Monaco locked both Lionel Messi and Neymar in the Ligue 1 match.
On August 28, 2022, Axel Disasi helped Monaco earn a point in the clash with PSG right at the Parc des Princes with solid play. This central defender really stood out when he put out all dangers from Messi and also Neymar, who only scored the equalizer on the penalty spot.
On Prime Video later, Disasi, when analyzing Monaco’s good performance in this match, had a stirring sentence: “We could have put Messi and Neymar in the pocket”.
The statement that most people think that Disasi refers to the Monaco defense has “pocketed” the PSG stars, causing an uproar on social networks. However, the Congolese French defender explains that that statement is misunderstood by the fact that the “bag” is the player’s designated playing area.
“When I say in the pocket, you have to know that it is in the space on the field and not in the pocket as people might think. They (Messi, Neymar) are very, very big players. I respect their careers and talents and have no reason to say I put them in my pocket, or anything that we can read on Twitter or somewhere. The bag is the space, the name given by the coach to the area where Messi and Neymar play. It is important to make this adjustment.”
After an excellent season with Monaco and being called up to the 2022 World Cup with France (playing the third match of the group stage), Disasi came to Chelsea for a fee of up to 45 million euros, more than 3 times the amount that Monaco bought from Reims (13 million) in 2020. He also ranks among the most expensive defenders in the Premier League.
Disasi will offer Chelsea another option at right-back. At a time when Wesley Fofana was recovering from injury, coach Mauricio Pochettino had other options for the center of defense such as Levi Colwill, Thiago Silva, Trevoh Chalobah and Benoit Badiashile.
As such, Disasi becomes Chelsea’s third major signing of the summer after strikers Nicolas Jackson and Christopher Nkuku.
