Who is soon-to-be Chelsea midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu?

Indeed, 19-year-old Rennes protege Lesley Ugochukwu is reportedly on his way to Chelsea after the Blues agreed a €27m (£23.2m) deal with their Ligue 1 counterparts, as Mauricio Pochettino strengthens a noticeably depleted engine room.

Chelsea are welcoming Ugochukwu to Stamford Bridge for almost a fifth of the price that they have been quoted for Brighton & Hove Albion's £100m-rated Moises Caicedo, although the Blues are supposedly considering loaning him out to sister club Strasbourg, whose manager Patrick Vieira would no doubt be the ideal man to help the teenager hone his craft.

Here, Sports Mole provides an in-depth analysis of soon-to-be Chelsea man Ugochukwu, including his background, strengths and weaknesses and international experience.

Background

A Brittany native, football was in Ugochukwu's blood since birth, as the midfielder is the nephew of former Nigeria international Onyekachi Apam, who represented Rennes and their Ligue 1 counterparts Nice during his heyday.

Ugochukwu began his footballing journey as a youth player with ASPTT Rennes and CPB Nord Ouest Foot before joining Les Rouges et Noir's academy in 2012, and by the age of 16, he was representing his current club in the UEFA Youth League for Under-19 teams.

Barely a fortnight after turning out in junior European competition, Ugochukwu became a regular for Rennes' B team and quickly caught the eye of Julien Stephan, who named him on the bench for three of their 2020-21 Champions League group-stage games, including a 3-0 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Stephan was soon given the boot, but Ugochukwu also found himself in the good books of current incumbent Bruno Genesio, who handed him his senior debut off the bench in a 5-1 thrashing of Dijon in April 2021, not long after his 17th birthday.

Genesio then saw fit to throw the midfielder into the deep end, handing him his first senior start against none other than Paris Saint-Germain in May 2021, as Ugochukwu completed 61 minutes of that 1-1 draw with the Pochettino-led Parisiens.

Now an established member of the first team, Ugochukwu turned out 22 times for Rennes during his breakthrough 2021-22 year - gleaning continental experience in the Europa Conference League - and his maiden goal for the club came late on in a 5-0 thumping of Saint-Etienne in December 2021.

Recent form

Taking on a more prominent first-team role last season, Ugochukwu produced one assist from 35 matches at the top level, featuring from the first whistle in 14 Ligue 1 games and a further five in the Europa League as Rennes progressed to the knockout round playoffs.

Mainly occupying a deep-lying defensive role, Ugochukwu used his 6ft 3in frame to good effect more often than not, as the teenager displayed an affinity for tough tackling while keeping his disciplinary record relatively clean; he was only cautioned three times in Ligue 1 last season, albeit while also receiving a red card just five minutes after coming off the bench in a 2-1 win over Ajaccio.

Often mopping up close to the halfway line, Ugochukwu ranks in the 97th percentile for percentage of dribblers tackled last season with 64.5% (compared to his fellow midfielders in the big five European leagues), while also making 1.67 blocks per game, putting him in the 87th percentile in that column.

Also demonstrating an eye for a long pass, Ugochukwu ranks in the top 5% for medium and long pass completion over the past year - registering 93.3% and 80.2% respectively - but progression is not the Frenchman's forte.

Indeed, Ugochukwu sits in the bottom 1% for key passes, and 3.29 progressive passes per 90 puts him in the 15th percentile, while he also sits in the lowest 10% for ball recoveries, averaging a mere 4.77 per game.

However, Ugochukwu's underwhelming progression statistics ought to pale into insignificance, as his signing should give Enzo Fernandez licence to flaunt his creative penchant further forward, while the defensive side of his game ought to improve significantly should be work under Strasbourg boss Vieira - one of the finest lynchpins to ever grace the Premier League.

International experience

The old guard of Paul Pogba and N'Golo Kante may no longer boast their international stars, but France are brimming with potential successors in the likes of Camavinga, Aurelien Tchouameni, Boubacar Kamara and Youssouf Fofana.

As a result, it comes as no shock to learn that Ugochukwu is yet to earn his first senior cap for Les Bleus, but the Frenchman - who is also eligible to play for Nigeria - has already donned his national colours at youth level.

Working under the wing of Lionel Rouxel at Under-18s and Under-19s level, Ugochukwu earned nine caps for the former team, scoring one goal and setting up one more, while also captaining the side in his first-ever appearance against Switzerland in a friendly.

Ugochukwu soon followed Rouxel to the Under-19s setup and has also played nine times for Les Bleuets at that level, finding the back of the net twice and gaining some crucial competitive experience in six European Championship qualifiers.

France won five of their six 2023 Under-19 Euros qualifiers with Ugochukwu in the side, but a 2-1 defeat to Norway meant that Les Bleuets missed out on a spot in the Euros finals, thus forcing the 19-year-old to wait a little longer for his major tournament inauguration.