Chelsea have confirmed an agreement has been reached with Atletico Madrid for the transfer of star left-back Filipe Luis.
The Brazilian dynamo, still yet to complete formal personal terms,
will be their third major signing of the summer after previously adding
Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas to the ranks.With Thibaut Courtois returning from a loan spell at the Vicente Calderon to mind the sticks in West London, a strong Colchoneros/La Liga presence will be felt throughout this Blues side for the 2014-15
Despite acquiring three world-class players in addition to the January haul of Nemanja Matic and Mohamed Salah, Chelsea's net spend is close to just £40 million following the astronomic sales of Juan Mata and David Luiz in the last six months.
Jose Mourinho is working the transfer window superbly.
Given his age (28, turns 29 in August), Luis isn't quite the steal Matic was. The Guardian speculate he will cost the Blues between £15-20 million. Nevertheless, his transfer represents an absolutely excellent piece of business.
Ideally, he will come in as the first-choice left-back and take the reins from stand-in wrong-sider Cesar Azpilicueta. The Spaniard can then move to his natural right-back slot and compete with Branislav Ivanovic for a place in the XI.
Luis was a top-three left-back in world football over the course of the 2013-14 season and is arguably the most complete of them all. His remarkable engine and combination of defensive and attacking skills make him a general all-rounder, and he's comfortable in every area of the pitch.
First and foremost, he tucks in expertly when his centre-back asks him to, defending his corner well. Last season, he averaged 4.1 tackles per game, per WhoScored.com. Many of those were in his own third.
Considering his side won the league and scored 77 goals in the process—suggesting Atletico were not under the defensive pressure a relegation-threatened side would be—his tackle rate is absurd.
2014 FIFA World Cup: Power Ranking Top 100 Players
Welcome to Bleacher Report's closing FIFA World Cup argument: A
final run-down of the top 100 players to have graced sport's most
honourable stage.
We've been running round-by-round power rankings to chart the rise and fall of our performers after every game, but this final set will rank the top 100 based on their overall showing in the competition.
The scores are collated by grading each player out of 10 for every game they play, though it's worth noting a heavier weighting is given to the latter rounds and therefore players who made it further are ranked higher.
A reward for sticking around, you could call it.
With thanks to Sam Rooke, Karl Matchett, Eduardo Mendez and Chris Atkins for the assistance in compiling the rankings.
We've been running round-by-round power rankings to chart the rise and fall of our performers after every game, but this final set will rank the top 100 based on their overall showing in the competition.
The scores are collated by grading each player out of 10 for every game they play, though it's worth noting a heavier weighting is given to the latter rounds and therefore players who made it further are ranked higher.
A reward for sticking around, you could call it.
With thanks to Sam Rooke, Karl Matchett, Eduardo Mendez and Chris Atkins for the assistance in compiling the rankings.
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