Chelsea have agreed to pay £26.3m plus add-ons for the services of 19-year-old Malo Gusto. Gusto becomes the latest signing after Joao Felix, Mykhailo Mudryk, Benoit Badiashile, David Datro Fofana, Noni Madueke, and Andrey Santos. He signed seven and a half-year deal at Stamford Bridge, but he will spend the remainder of the 2022–23 season on loan at Lyon.
The 19-year-old will provide backup and longterm competition to Reece James, who missed the majority of this season through injury.
We will dive into who Malo Gusto is.
Malo started his early career playing for ASVF before he joined Olympique Lyonnais as an Under-14. Malo signed his first professional contract with the French club in December 2021. He made his professional debut in January 2021, replacing Bruno Guimaraes.
Style of play
Gusto is usually deployed as a right-back. He is a team player, possessing the ability to hold up the play. In building up an attack from behind, he is able to stretch up the play and is available for deep switches and quick one-two passes. He is able to rotate in a system in wide triangles when the team is attacking in the final third.
His threats are from the deep when he overlaps with the ball, but he can be caught a little too deep.
The 2022/23 season
Looking at his heatmap for this season, in which he played 15 games, we can see that he has been deployed as a right wing-back, with the tendency to make overlapping runs on the right wing. The bright yellow spot indicates where he made his actions in the form of defensive contributions, passes, assists, and so on.
We will deep dive into his actions to see more about him.
Defensive Contributions
- Tackles
- Interceptions
- Ball Recoveries
Passes
- Pass Map
- Crosses
- Assists
- Chances Creation
Defensive Contributions
Tackles
The French had made a total of 32 tackles, out of which he was successful in winning 21 of them. He made 2.04 tackles per 90, of which he was successful in winning 1.47. From the heatmap, it is divided into zones, and he made a majority in the defensive third with 33% and 24% in the attacking third, taking his tally to the 88 percentile.
2. Interceptions
The Frenchman made 24 interceptions, winning all of them. He made 1.47 interceptions per 90, taking it to the 86 percentile. According to his heatmap, he made 13% of his interceptions from the defensive third in the right back and spread them across the attacking third.
3. Recoveries
Gusto made a total of 111 recoveries. He made a whopping 7.30 recoveries per 90, taking him to the 94 percentile. According to the heat map, the pitch is divided into different zones, and Gusto recovered the majority of his balls in the defensive third (24%). The bright red spot indicates where he made most of his recoveries.
Passes
1. Pass Map
France International made a total of 2091 passes, out of which he completed 938 of them. He completed 62.95 passes per 90, taking him to the 96 percentile. He is known for playing wall passes and switching up the play whenever necessary. He completed 473 short passes between teammates, giving him an 88.9% short pass percentile. The heat map shows that most of his passes are concentrated on the right side of the pitch.
2. Crosses
Malo Gusto has whipped up 25 crosses into the penalty box. He produced 1.43 crosses per 90 seconds, putting him in the 99th percentile. From the heatmap, we can see that he whipped up the most crosses into the box. Using his technical ability to wiggle past defenders, he whips up perfect crosses into the box.
3. Assists
From the heatmap, we can see that he made lots of crosses and passes into the box, but he was only able to convert one into an assist. He made 0.18 assists per 90, taking him to the 82 percentile.
4. Chances Creation
The Frenchman created three major chances for his team, but he failed to convert any major chances for his team.
Visualization
From the above radar, we can see that he ranks 96 percentile in passes completed, 95 percentile in expected assists, 99 percentile in near-perfect crosses to the penalty area, 96 percentile in total touches made, and 94 percentile in ball recoveries. Despite him being 19 years old, his stats for the season are quite good.
Verdict
Gusto made his move to Chelsea, but he was sent on a season-long loan to Lyon for the 2022–23 season. He will join his Chelsea teammates in the new season, and he is bound to provide competition to Reece James and also provide the team long-term cover as the Englishman is injury-prone. According to rumors, Chelsea and Todd Boehley’s camp is once again interested in Enzo Fernandez. Benfica turned down their 80 million contract, but this time, the Blues came with a better offer. With one day left before the transfer window closes, how many players will Chelsea buy? Watch this space.
