Valentin Barco played really well in Chelsea 's engine room in the game against Leeds , and did himself a big favour.
If you enjoy Talk Chelsea coverage and want to see more of it, add us as a preferred source on Google to make us a favourite and see more of our content.
We wrote ahead of last night's game against how it was a huge one for Valentin Barco.
With Enzo Fernandez sold and Moises Caicedo out injured, this early part of the season should have been a great opportunity for him. But as we saw against Arsenal on Sunday, Xabi Alonso has been preferring Malo Gusto to the Argentine summer arrival.
Barco is not going to be a Premier League starter anytime soon, but needs to show he's a viable option for Alonso.
Valentin Barco (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Well, how about this for a stats sheet. The former Brighton man had:
– Most touches: 89– Most ground duels won: 11– Most defensive contributions: 13– Most fouled: 4– Most interceptions: 3– Most tackles: 7
He also scored his first Chelsea goal in the second half demolition of the Whites.
That is not only a great performance, it's also the exact type of good performance that we wanted from Barco. He showed in a tough game against a super physical team that he really can compete. That's on top of his passing ability, which has never been in question.
If you're asking us, this should now be the end of Gusto being ahead of him in the midfield pecking order.
A very earnest Alonso also took responsibility for Chelsea's first half struggles after he switched the starting team up a little.
