New Delhi: Chelsea have signed Leicester City’s starman in their title-winning season Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, shelling out £30 million on the Leicester academy graduate. The 25-year-old midfielder leaves a club he’d been a part of since 2006, making 129 appearances for the club’s first-team ever since he broke into the squad in 2020.
Dewsbury-Hall had a remarkable season down in the Championship under Italian manager Enzo Maresca, who is now the head coach of Chelsea FC. The 2023/24 season was a breakthrough campaign for the Englishman as he helped the Foxes to the Championship title, earning them promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking. He starred in their championship-winning season, drawing eyeballs from a lot of clubs due to his displays.
Our latest summer signing: Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall! 🫡 pic.twitter.com/1OuST65GTv
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) July 2, 2024
Brighton and Hove Albion had been interested in getting the midfielder since the January transfer window and had agreed to a swap deal with Leicester last week that would’ve seen Jakub Moder go the other way but Chelsea intervened right before Dewsbury-Hall’s medical, to swoop the player from under Brighton’s noses.
He becomes Chelsea’s fourth signing of the season after the club signed Fulham defender Tosin Adarabioyo on a free transfer. They join youngsters Omari Kellyman and Marc Guiu who joined the club from Aston Villa and Barcelona for £18 million and £5 million respectively.
Who is Chelsea’s latest signing, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall?
Dewsbury-Hall had an incredible 2023/24 season at the King Power Stadium. (Photo by Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images)
The 25-year-old Nottingham-born midfielder is a Leicester City academy product who made his first-team breakthrough in 2020. Dewsbury-Hall signed for the club back in 2006 when he was just eight years old and signed his first professional contract with the club in 2017.
He made his first team debut for the club in 2020 before loan spells at Blackpool and Luton Town in the lower divisions of English football. The 25-year-old midfielder is already quite an experienced player as he has already racked up 268 career appearances, 129 of which have come for Leicester’s first team. Dewsbury-Hall also comes with prior Premier League experience as the player has made 59 appearances in the first division of English football, contributing to seven goals already.
He leaves Leicester after almost 20 years of being associated with the club, helping the club win the Championship last season and the FA Community Shield in 2021. He was named in the UEFA Europa Conference League team of the season in 2021-22, while also winning Leicester’s Player’s and Supporters’ Player of the Season award for his performances in the 2023-24 campaign.
How does Dewsbury-Hall fit in at Chelsea?
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall is already used to performing in Blue. (Photo by Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images)
Chelsea Football Club is like a revolving door of players coming in and out of the club every season and have been this way ever since they were bought by Russian billionaire Roman Abrahamovic back in 2003. Even after Todd Boehly and Co.’s takeover, the policy didn’t change as we’ve seen several players join the London-based club since then.
After Mauricio Pochettino left the club by mutual consent, the club moved swiftly and replaced him with Leicester City’s title-winning manager, Enzo Maresca. Maresca implemented a Pep Guardiola-esque playing style while with the Foxes and one of his star players was Chelsea’s new signing, Keirnan Dewsbury-Hall.
The box-to-box attacking midfielder produced incredible numbers under Marseca, scoring 12 goals and assisting a further 14 as he made his way into the Championship team of the season. Before playing under Maresca, Dewsbury-Hall just had 5 goals and 6 assists for the Foxes and he was totally transformed by the Italian manager. While Chelsea’s midfield seems to be stacked currently, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall provides an aspect to the Blues that no other midfielder does, i.e. a genuine goalscoring ability.
Chelsea currently have Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo, Conor Gallagher, Carney Chukwumenka, Lesley Ugochukwu and Romeo Lavia all competing for the central midfield spots but Gallagher seems to be on his way out of the club in this window while both Chkwumenka and Ugochukwu are too unproven till now to be relied on completely. Lavia and Caicedo are defensive midfielders and Enzo Fernandez hasn’t yet proven to be a goal-scoring midfielder, so there is definitely space for Dewsbury-Hall to make one of the midfield spots his own.
Enzo Maresca has gotten the best out of Dewsbury-Hall out of all managers that he’s played under (Photo by Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images)
Moreover, the former Leicester City man is a left-footed midfielder, which is another profile that Chelsea lack and most importantly, he is a player who is familiar with Enzo Maresca’s system. The appointment of Marseca as Chelsea’s manager is a huge gamble considering the manager has never managed a top-flight club but he has been appointed because of his style of play and it is imperative that he is given players that suit his style and who could be better than someone he has previously worked with and gotten the best out of.
Maresca’s style of play involves the central midfielders playing a role higher up the field. He wants the holding midfielder and the inverted full-back to guard the back three, allowing the central midfielder to be the link between the wingers and the striker. At Leicester, Dewsbury-Hall was encouraged to get into the box, to contribute goals and assists. This new role paid off as Dewsbury-Hall ultimately contributed to 29% of all of Leicester’s goals.
For a manager who wants to implement his playstyle at a club, he must be given players that fit that style to make the transition easier. The same was the case when Maurizio Sarri brought Jorginho along when he joined Chelsea. Moreover, ever since legendary midfielder Frank Lampard left the club, Chelsea have been crying out for a goal-scoring midfielder, and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall seems like he has all the abilities to become one for the Blues for years to come.
Chelsea have completed the signing of Leicester City midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall for £30 million on a six-year contract, keeping him at the club till 2030. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
