Cesar "Bargain" Azpilicueta

"The Spanish Steal " 

Cesar Azpilicueta commonly called 'Dave' or just Azpi finally conquered Europe by wining the UEFA Champions League 2021. Along with this he now joins an elite category of players who have won every single trophy possible in a certain country(England) at the club level.

The Right-Back cost Chelsea and Roman Abramovic just a meager  €7 million back in the summer of 2012 from Marseille and that small investment will go down as one of the best bargains in football history.

Now, in August 2022, during a wave of uncertainties at the club, Mr Captain has extended his contract with the club until 2024.

Here, in this article we look at 'Dave's' achievements in a Chelsea shirt and how he has not only justified his price tag but could also go on to pave the way for future defenders of his kind.

24th August 2012:

Coming off the high of winning the UCL for the 1st time in its history, Chelsea made several signings to restructure their aging squad at that time. They brought in the likes of Hazard, De Bruyne, Oscar, Ba, Moses and of course Azpilicueta to name a few.This rebuild along with Azpi and co helped chelsea to 2 Premiership tittles in 3 years from 2014-2017.

Azpilicueta was brought in the squad to slowly phase out the aging defender Branislav Ivanovic; little did the hierarchy at that time know that he would not only be a worthy replacement to the Serb but also etch his name in the books of history with consistent performances for the past 9 years helping him to win it all.

Here are 'Dave's' achievements in the blue shirt:

2 × Premier Leagues

2 × UEFA Europa Leages

1 × UEFA Champions League

1 × FA Cup

1 × League Cup

Additionally in his time so far he has scored 9 goals as defender and has set the most assists for a defender record at 33 assists and still counting.

Experience wise he has over 425 appearances for the club and over 150 of them as club captain.He has become the epitome of consistency during his career; always putting in 7/10;8/10 performances for the past 9 years while getting injured just twice.YES,JUST TWICE!!! 

Inspiration to a Dying breed?

Traditionally; fullbacks, considered as defenders had their main job cut out to defend,block,intercept and stop any goal threat from the opposition.However, overtime the role of fullbacks has begun to change where the modern fullback must attack and defend alike.Also most modern fullbacks are restricted to playing at one flank and rarely play across all defensive positions. This change was initially brought about by players like Roberto Carlos, Ashley Cole,Marcelo, Alba and now even youngsters like Alexander-Arnold and Davies.

Thus several teams that prefer playing defensively are always on the lookout for defensive fullbacks in the modern age and that is where a player like Azpilicueta stands out.He is one of the few top players in the modern game who can play in any defensive positions and give top performances every single time.

Along with 'Dave', at the moment only Man Utd's Wan Bissaka are the standout Defensive fullbacks in the world.This is a trend which according to us should change soon as defensive fullbacks always provide the extra cover in defense and don.t just gas out by attacking which in the first place shouldn't be their job.

His performances in the UCL campaign this season is proof that even while aging slowly and being given stiff competition by Reece James for his spot in the team that he is one of the best. 

At the end of the article our view on Cesar Azpilicueta is that he has been one of the biggest bargains of the centuary and that clubs need to do this level of scouting to reap top results like the ones Chelsea has harvested from the Spaniard.

Also, from the defensive fullback point of view we feel that since the game is evolving so much and defensive fullbacks are a rarity we must simply enjoy Azpi as one of the last great ones of this kind while he still plays and hope for the best for the dying position.

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Credits:

Transfer market official

BR Football

The 5th Stand;Chelsea

Football London

UEFA official

Daily Mail UK