Thomas Tuchel has revealed that he is open to the possibility of deploying Saul Niguez at left wing-back position for Chelsea.
The Spain international has been unable to make an impact since completing his surprise loan move from Atletico Madrid in the latter stages of the summer transfer window.
Saul has started just four matches for Chelsea this campaign and he was brought off at the break in the 2-1 win over Watford on Wednesday.
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The Blues face the prospect of being without Ben Chilwell for the rest of the campaign as he may require knee ligament surgery, which means they are now heavily reliant on Marcos Alonso to step up.
But Tuchel believes Saul could be capable of deputising for Alonso during the club’s busy fixture schedule over the winter period.
When asked about the possibility of playing Saul as a wing-back at Stamford Bridge, Tuchel replied: ‘Yeah, he’s still adapting.
‘He had an early yellow card [against Watford], he was a bit shy to play all-in in the duels.
‘For that we lacked a bit of his physicality because he did not want to risk a red card which was a good thing on that evening because we did not want to be one man down. ‘I think that he could play in the wing-back role for us.
‘Even if we play a dominant game and an offensive game because he’s very strong in arriving in the opponent’s box, very strong in finishing and has good timing to arrive on the second post with his head.
‘We sometimes do this in training, that’s why we have the impression that he could maybe be a good fit. Maybe in the next games we have to try it because Chilly is out long term and a lot of games are coming and we cannot put every game on Marcos’ shoulders.’
