Injuries to Kurt Zouma and now John Terry have left Chelsea dangerously short at the back for their trip to Paris.
Guus Hiddink looks set to be forced to move Branislav Ivanovic into the centre of defence for tonight’s Champions League trip to Paris Saint-Germain, leaving only new signing Matt Miazga and academy prospect Jake Clarke-Salter as cover for the heart of the Blues defence.
It is a perilous situation that could have been easily avoided if not for one of the stranger transfer stories of the season.
Rewind to deadline day in September, when Chelsea’s lone move was to bring in unknown Senegalese defender Papy Djilobodji from Nantes.
The arrival raised plenty of eyebrows at the time, but the 27-year-old was soon forgotten as he made only one substitute’s appearance for the club in the League Cup before, apparently given up as a flop, being shipped out on loan to Werder Bremen in last month.
Since then, however, Djilobodji has proven a revelation in Germany, playing every minute of Bremen’s five games since his arrival.
The defender scored his first goal for the club in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Hoffenheim, while he has made frequent appearances in Bundesliga teams of the week in his short spell there.
Delighted for @papydjilo15 after scoring his first goal for #Werder yesterday! pic.twitter.com/ZIg3GmdSXU
— SV Werder Bremen EN (@werderbremen_en) February 14, 2016
Bundesliga Team of the Week – Gameweek 21 https://t.co/m9Ss60TZR4 pic.twitter.com/CbAEymw8KR
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) February 15, 2016
In fact, his 7.47 rating on WhoScored.com over the last few weeks, if he keeps it up, would make Djilobodji the 11th best player in the German top flight for the season.
Never, ever thought I'd say these words. But were Chelsea wrong to let Papy Djilobodji leave on loan in January?
— Joe Krishnan (@joekrishnan) February 15, 2016
There’s really only one answer to that…
