Player Focus: Could Clément Chantôme Replace Marouane Fellaini?
When David Beckham signed for Paris Saint-Germain in January, it was expected to not only boost the profile of the Parisian side, but also improve the team as a whole. The pressure was on Carlo Ancelotti to land their first title since 1994 and an experienced head in the middle of the park was just the player the Italian needed to see his side secure domestic glory.
The move would undoubtedly have benefitted Marco Verratti, with the young midfielder seeing his stature rise significantly during the latter half of the season. Beckham’s impact was evident in that upon the decision to retire from the game following the culmination of the domestic campaign in May, PSG strived to persuade him to remain in the French capital for another year in a playing capacity.
Alas, when the former England international was handed the captaincy and exited the field for the final time to a standing ovation it brought an end to a glittering career of one of the games finest midfielders. However, while much fuss was made of the end of Beckham’s playing time in France, one player also expected to see his time with the French champions come to an end this summer is Clément Chantôme.
Will the midfielder receive a similar send off to the midfielder? It’s doubtful. Does he deserve it? It could be argued that he does. The 25-year-old ended the season with a pass success of 92% from his 28 Ligue 1 appearances, with 16 of those being starts. Of every player in the league with at least 10 appearances last year, only teammate Alex (92.1%) found a player more consistently than the Frenchman.
His ability to pick out a teammate in his position is one of his primary assets that has seen him remain highly rated among the vouyeristic French football fan, yet he's struggled to really break into the first team having seen Verratti and Blaise Matuidi ahead of him in the pecking order. As such, a summer move to Everton has been mooted as the Toffees look to strengthen ahead of the new season.
Recently appointed manager Roberto Martinez has already brought in Arouna Kone, Antolin Alcaraz, Joel Robles and Gerard Deulofeu during the transfer window, the latter arriving on loan. Yet, with the future of Marouane Fellaini still to be decided, and Everton expected to use a similar 3-4-3, a ball playing midfielder in the form of Chantôme would certainly make an astute acquisition for the Merseyside outfit.
The calmness in possession that Chantôme would ultimately inject into the Everton midfield is evident in that the midfielder played an accurate pass every 1.69 minutes for PSG last season, a figure that when compared to the Toffees current squad saw Darron Gibson (1.94) come closest to matching the Frenchman in that respect. While Chantôme only averaged 30 accurate passes per game, the fact is he played only 1419 minutes of first team football with the Parisian side last season, significantly less time on the pitch when compared to Gibson (1807), Fellaini (2785) and Leon Osman (3184), standing him in fine stead.
What this denotes is that regardless of a lack of playing time, Chantôme’s passing capability cannot be called into question and it's clear that with ample time on the pitch, his average number of accurate passes per game would significantly improve. However, reports of the France international moving to Goodison Park as a replacement for Fellaini are somewhat farfetched.
Whether Everton can hold onto the Belgium international between now and the close of transfer window it remains to be seen, but their differing styles of play are evident from their performances last season. While Chantôme would provide the ammunition from deep for the attack minded players, Fellaini would likely be charged with breaking down play, freeing up the former to recycle possession and supporting attacks himself, regardless of his role higher up the pitch in David Moyes' final year in charge.
However, that isn’t to say the Frenchman wouldn’t aid the Belgian in his defensive duties. Chantôme, regardless of his lack of first team action, still averaged 2.3 tackles per game - just 0.3 short of Fellaini’s 2.6 - despite the latter playing 1366 more minutes of domestic football. Yet, it’s the former’s pass success that will stand him in better stead when it comes to adding that creativity from the middle of the park with the club.
It’s this that will be vital in a system where the utilisation of wing-backs - potentially Leighton Baines and Seamus Coleman - is to be expected. If this is the case, then Chantôme’s passing ability would likely become a crucial asset in the midfield, having played 61.4% of his 913 attempted passes last season sideways. With the aforementioned duo expected to press on and support the attack, his ability to shift the ball to the flanks would benefit the two marauding full-backs, while allowing the defensive solidity to remain intact, highlighted by both Chantôme and Fellaini’s average tackles per game and the recent signing of Alcaraz.
Either way, it’s evident that a player of Chantôme’s midfield ability deserves to be playing regular first team football. It’s unlikely, however, that he’d be brought in to replace Fellaini, should Everton agree to sell the Belgian, but Martinez could look to pair the duo alongside one another in the middle of the park, especially if the club do move from a 4-4-1-1 to a 3-4-3.
