With Xabi Alonso arriving at Cobham for his first day in charge at Chelsea, it’s only right we take a look at his first signing in detail.
Chelsea signed Marco Palestra for a fee of around £47m from Atalanta, after impressing on loan last season with Cagliari in Italy.
The 21-year-old made 37 appearances last season, scoring once and providing four assists, totalling 3,085 minutes in Serie A.
Palestra impressed after just one full season at senior level, with Inter Milan fighting for his signature before Chelsea swooped in to complete the deal on Alonso’s request.
So why was the right-back in high demand and how will he help Alonso as he looks to transform this Chelsea team next season?
In this article, we’ll cover
Two-footed carrier
Perhaps his standout trait, Palestra is a powerful carrier of the ball, using his frame to shield against pressure and absorbing contact.
He is equally comfortable on both feet when carrying, transferring the ball seamlessly during carries to make it difficult for defenders to pinch.
This quality is rare, especially for a full-back, making him effective in high and wide areas, as he can go either way to beat his man.
While we often consider wingers the players getting into 1v1 isolations out wide, in the modern game, full-backs providing width can find themselves in plenty of these situations too.
Palestra’s ability on both feet is also useful in deeper more nominal full-back zones, as he is extremely press resistant due to his comfortability on the ball and ability to shield.
This is an effective trait to utilise against man to man pressing teams, as Palestra’s carrying from deep inside the pitch can break those pressing schemes.
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Delivery and passing
Playing as a wingback and full-back last season, Palestra naturally finds himself in positions to deliver the ball into the box pretty often.
His variety of crossing is good, having the ability to stand them up towards the back post, cut backs across the box and even cut back on his weaker left foot to deliver inswingers.
Palestra is a bit of a cutback machine, scanning well before delivering the ball, looking to pick out the correct space for his teammates to attack.
The fact Palestra is very good with both feet means he can do the same from both flanks, playing left-back/left wingback and being able to replicate the crossing variety there too.
Having that comfortability on both feet is also important with his progressive passing, allowing Palestra to find inside diagonal passing angles to progress play and initiate combination play.
Defensive profile
Considering Palestra is the Serie A defender of the year from last season, it’s only right to share some details on his defensive work.
Having a tall and strong frame with a powerful long stride, Palestra’s defensive work is often looking to cater towards those strengths.
This includes good usage of the arms to unsettle the opponent, but slightly more space between himself and the opponent in his preparation for a 1v1.
Quick to close space, but does leave that extra yard compared to other defenders who want to get tighter to the opponent.
When the opponent does dribble toward Palestra and uses faints and jinks to try and come inside, Palestra can bite too easily, looking to use his long limbs to regain possession quickly.
Good positioning for 1v1 duels when taking up a low and side on position, but isn’t consistent with his footwork, can differ between good active feet and poor planted feet, on his heels and easier to beat.
Overall, Palestra has a lot of good defensive qualities, raw athletic capacity and assets in his favour, just needs to come together now with further coaching and development.
Tactical fit
When it comes to how Palestra will work in Alonso’s Chelsea side, it is clear that his versatility is a big factor in the signing.
Palestra can play as a wingback on both sides, which would suit Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen system, setting up in a 3-4-3.
With the inside forwards/number 10s rotating centrally with the centre-forward, the wingbacks job is to provide width, make runs in beyond and stretch the pitch.
Palestra has the engine to do this, repeatedly making runs in behind and complimenting other attackers in the squad who prefer receiving the ball to feet.
Alonso liked his wingbacks arriving in behind the opposition defensive line, before delivering first time/quick balls into the box for the oncoming attackers to finish attacks.
If play is down the opposite side, the far side wingback can then attack the back post and look to get on the scoresheet themselves, which looks to be an untapped skill set for Palestra so far in his career.
Having the ability to absorb pressure with his frame, attacking the box is a skill he could transfer this to, adding box presence from crosses.
As stated, Palestra can play as a wingback on either side, this also applies to playing as a full-back on either side in a back four.
This gives Alonso plenty of tactical flexibility to use Palestra as a width holder/overlapping full-back on either side, allowing the winger to then drift inside and play in the pocket.
With plenty of teams now shifting into 3-2-5 shapes on the ball, including Alonso when at Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid, full-backs are key to shifting between different shapes and still arriving in the desired 3-2-5 on the ball.
Palestra makes a lot of a sense as Alonso’s first signing, giving tactical flexibility, balance of skill sets in attack and energy as he looks to change the culture at Chelsea and create a team nobody wants to face.