Saul Niguez last of La Liga breeding ground as Chelsea flop continues to struggle

At a time when signing young English talent is in vogue on the continent, Saul Niguez could spell the end of Premier League clubs doing their shopping in the fringes of La Liga. The Spain international’s struggles to bridge the gap between the Atletico Madrid bench and the Chelsea first team will have sent out warning bells around all 20 clubs looking to bolster their resources in January.

The gulf between the Premier League and La Liga is simply too wide for ordinary players in Spain to leap even given the best will in the world.

On paper, a 27-year-old defensive midfielder with an ability to pick a devastating slide-rule final pass is just the sort of thing needed to unlock a Premier League back four.

The trouble is, Saul needs too much room with the ball.

And the last time Saul showed the ability to get anything done in the nick of time was when he agreed to move to Stamford Bridge on loan with just three minutes of the transfer window remaining.

An attempt at a debut against Aston Villa was aborted at half-time, as was his most recent Premier League appearance in the 2-1 defeat of Watford last Wednesday.

The rest of his Chelsea career has been made of bit-part cameos in lesser competitions and the occasional Champions League romp where the Blues were already several goals to the good.

Saul has done everything he can to settle. He has moved his family to London and insiders insist his attitude is spot on in training.

It even explains why Thomas Tuchel has racked his brains to come up with some way of making the most of his midfielder.

Sadly, his masterplan lasted just two minutes on Wednesday night.

Tuchel calculated that, despite never having played there really in his career, Saul had all the qualities he would need to be an enterprising wing-back.

And right at the start of the game against Zenit St Peterburg, he won the corner that led to the opening Chelsea goal.

Then a wayward cross spoiled the next attack and sliced clearance led to the equaliser – and from then on the ease with which Malcom exploited the space behind him led to Chelsea’s undoing. He was replaced 14 minutes from the end.

“He is one of the guys who needs rhythm, needs minutes,” Tuchel has said. “He is not the only guy. We will not stop trying to bring out the best, to help him to help us help the team.”

But if your established international midfielder is struggling so much in the Premier League the best he can hope for is to be Marcos Alonso’s understudy, it highlights the gulf between a reasonable La Liga player and an inadequate Premier League stop-gap.