Fredy Guarin: The complete midfielder who would elevate Chelsea

Chelsea are closing in on Fredy Guarin, report the London Evening Standard. The midfielder has an excellent engine on him and is a driving force in the Inter’s midfield. Whether the Blues actually need him is an interesting discussion but Guarin would be an excellent addition.

He is often fantastic and terrible in equal measure. He can have a superb performance one week against top of Serie A and then the worst of his career the following week against bottom of the league. He is inconsistent but is exquisitely talented and another Colombian making a name for himself in Europe.

He has scored three goals in Italy’s top league this season, with only a few players scoring more at Inter. He’s also created 24 chances. Only Esteban Cambiasso (29) and Ricky Alvarez (31) have created more for Inter this season.

Guarin is a powerful box-to-box midfielder who is capable of driving a team forward at will. He can assist, create chances, score goals and break up play. His duels are not too bad. He has won 48% of them, including 53% of his tackles.

Guarin’s take-ons are his most impressive feat. He has attempted 107 and completed 52 of them. Only Juan Cuadrado has attempted more in Serie A this season; they both regularly exchange places at the top of that particular table.

As a central midfielder, you can’t ask for much more from Guarin. If Jose Mourinho can get some consistency into his game, Guarin could storm the Premier League.

The South American just needs his game moulding so he can become a top midfielder. He is 27, though, which could go against him. He may also have to play a little deeper at Chelsea with the amount of attacking midfielders on the Blues’ books, which may not be good for him.

He’s a standard box-to-box engine in midfield, proven by his fantastic heat map from Inter’s recent game with Udinese.

As you can see, Guarin was everywhere and spent the majority of his time inside Udinese’s half. This is the type of player Guarin is so if Mourinho is planning on using him and is hoping to get the best out of him, he needs to give him the licence to charge forward at will – kind of like Yaya Toure at Manchester City.

If Mourinho uses him well, he could be a key player for the rest of the season at Stamford Bridge.