Axel Disasi is showing he can be the £38.5m star Chelsea signed – but his form at Aston Villa could come back to haunt the Blues, writes AADAM PATEL
- Axel Disasi has impressed since Chelsea sent him out on loan to Aston Villa
- Disasi has played all 90 minutes of every league game he has been eligible for
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On another day, Axel Disasi could have had two penalties awarded against him but as it was, the 26-year-old took home the Player of the Match award against Brentford.
Disasi was immense, making a number of crucial interventions with one tackle to block Keane Lewis-Potter’s cross in the second half celebrated like a goal. His intensity in particular, stood out.
Since leaving Chelsea on loan in February for a loan fee of £5million, Disasi has established himself as a key part of Unai Emery’s side, playing 90 minutes of every league game apart from the one he was ineligible for against his parent club and starting Villa’s Champions League clash against Club Brugge.
Crucially, the French international has looked comfortable at right-back over the past week – a position where the experiment failed under Enzo Maresca.
A month into his loan spell under Emery, Disasi is beginning to look a lot more like the player Chelsea signed for £38.8m on a six-year deal in 2023.
As well as Villa, Wolves and Tottenham were interested in him during the winter transfer window and the very fact that Chelsea were willing to engage in talks with rivals like Spurs summed up how surplus they saw him to requirements.
Axel Disasi has been showing the sort of form that convinced Chelsea to sign him in 2023
Disasi was immense for Villa in their win at Brentford to pick up the Player of the Match award
His impressive form could even see Villa finish above Todd Boehly’s Chelsea this season
‘I come here to play and to enjoy and I’m very happy with how it’s going at Villa,’ Disasi said.
It’s something his manager agrees with too.
‘Yes, he’s adapting with us,’ said Emery. ‘Of course, when he played against Liverpool as a centre-back, he played good. When he played as a right-back at Palace and Brugge, he was progressively getting better to try and get confidence. I think he went one step forward more (at Brentford), playing and succeeding better,’ the Villa boss added.
Carry on the way he is going and Chelsea will at least get a decent fee if they sell him this summer. But if Disasi is part of the reason why Villa may end up finishing ahead of Chelsea come May, then it will hardly look like a shrewd piece of business by Todd Boehly and the Clearlake Consortium.
