Who Is Radja Nainggolan, and What Would He Bring to Chelsea?

Chelsea are looking to rebuild this summer, and according to widespread reports, Radja Nainggolan could be headed to Stamford Bridge as part of the club’s attempts to get back into the Champions League.

The Roma midfielder has been linked with a £26 million move to the Blues, per Sami Mokbel of the Daily Mail, with new boss Antonio Conte looking to add a bit more bite to the midfield.

So who is Nainggolan, and what would he offer Chelsea next season if he were to turn out at Stamford Bridge? Let’s take a closer look.

What’s Nainggolan’s position, and where is he most effective?

Italian football has a long tradition of celebrating midfield enforcers. In more recent times, fans of Serie A have been treated to the likes of Gennaro Gattuso and Edgar Davids marshaling midfields for AC Milan and Juventus, respectively, not to mention Nainggolan’s Roma teammate Danielle De Rossi.

Nainggolan is in a similar mold—a feisty competitor who works hard for his teammates and doesn’t shirk his responsibilities in the process.

Like Davids before him, Nainggolan has a touch of finesse about his game, too. He is much more than just a bulldozer, demonstrating good vision and also a knack for scoring goals at times. He has five in Serie A this season, picking up two assists in the process; it’s not a bad record for a player who’s more concerned with preventing them at the other end of the pitch.

Speaking with the Belgian edition of Rolling Stone magazine (h/t Daily Mail), he said, “I have fought for everything I’ve obtained. Even in kickabouts with my friends, I want to win.”

It’s the sort of quote that immediately qualifies him in terms of what we can expect from Conte’s Chelsea. The new boss has built his teams in the past based on the principle of endeavour and commitment.

Conte likes to sprinkle a little fairy dust with that to help create the magic, but it’s players in Nainggolan’s image that are the fulcrum of what the Italian’s teams achieve.

Looking at events from this week, Nainggolan wouldn’t have looked out of place in the London derby between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotpsur.

That was a game about passion and …

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