HomeSportFootballTosin Adarabioyo, The Unsung Signing Who Has Become Chelsea’s Leader

Tosin Adarabioyo, The Unsung Signing Who Has Become Chelsea’s Leader

Shamrock Rovers. It is mandatory for a player, as well as the head coach, to face the media before matches in European club competitions. But this would be an occasion where there would be some difficult questions to answer.

Chelsea had already used Tosin three weeks earlier, ahead of the match at Heidenheim, but the club turned to him again, trusting him to handle the inevitable queries about Mudryk. It felt like a significant choice. He took it in his stride, said the right things and never looked flustered, not an easy thing to do when talking about such a sensitive topic involving a team-mate.

The following weekend, Tosin had his finest moment on the pitch up to that point in his Chelsea career, earning his team a point at Everton by arguably making the defensive block of the season. Iliman Ndiaye had looked certain to score when Jesper Lindstrom’s cross rolled towards him just a few yards from goal. The ball had squirmed away from Robert Sanchez’s grasp, but Tosin’s right-foot lunge stopped the shot. Chelsea left Goodison Park, a place where they had lost on five of their previous six visits, with a 0-0 draw.

It would be fair to say that Tosin’s acquisition did not cause too much of a stir when it was confirmed in June. He arrived as a free agent from Fulham after his contract had expired at Craven Cottage. That was not the kind of business Chelsea’s fanbase was used to, given the club had spent over £1billion ($1.2 billion) on transfers over the previous two years.

Tosin scored Chelsea’s first goal against Morecambe (Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

Chelsea staff were commenting on Tosin’s communication skills from the start of pre-season.

Another contributing factor in persuading Tosin to join Chelsea was the club’s record of winning major trophies — albeit none have been acquired since the Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium took over in May 2022. Talks with co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart also made him excited about the club’s direction.

Rather than being put off by the ruthless nature of the new ownership getting rid of three permanent managers as well as several players — including some of the signings they had made themselves — Tosin appreciated the no-nonsense approach.

It also did not faze Tosin that he would probably not be considered first choice at the back to begin with and it did not make a difference to how he operated around the camp.

Maresca has praised Tosin’s leadership skills (Getty Images)

Here we are, halfway through the season, and Tosin has accrued 17 appearances (15 starts) in all competitions, seven of those being starts in the Premier League. However, five of those have come in the last seven fixtures with Wesley Fofana and Benoit Badiashile sidelined with hamstring injuries.

Inevitably, Tosin has not been error-free but he has played in 10 victories and five defeats overall, helping Chelsea to keep seven clean sheets with 16 goals conceded in his 17 appearances.

Against Morecambe, it was his deflected shot in the 39th minute that opened the scoring and eased the growing tension among Chelsea fans. Tosin’s second — a delightful curler into the top corner — made it 3-0 and ended the visitors’ resolve.

After the final whistle, more than one member of Maresca’s coaching staff went over to him. Club captain Reece James, who played the opening 45 minutes on his comeback from a hamstring strain, made a point of saying a few words to him, too.

Chelsea have had a lot of criticism for overspending on some players but no one can say that about Tosin, even if he continues to be perceived by Maresca as just a very useful squad player.

 

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