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Emerson Palmieri has been one of the bright spots in an otherwise mediocre start to the season for Chelsea under Frank Lampard, Chelsea have tried and failed to replace club legend Ashley Cole since his departure in 2014, Names such as Baba Rehman, Filipe Luis, Patrick van Aanholt all failed up to live up to expectations, Marcos Alonso had a good time under Antonio Conte as a wing-back but was too one-dimensional to play as a left-back due to the poor defensive aspect of his game.
Considering this, Emerson has been like a breath of fresh air at Stamford Bridge, The 25-year-old moved to West London from Roma in an £18m deal last year but had to battle out for a place in the starting lineup with the Spaniard Alonso.
He played an important part in Chelsea's successful Europa League campaign and managed to seal a spot in the starting lineup towards the end of the season under Lampard. Emerson has continued from where he left off and arguably has been Chelsea's most improved player this season,
He has been a key member of Lampard's Chelsea side to start the season and was also the starting left-back for Italy, grabbing an assist in their 3-1 win over Armenia on Friday.
Surging past Alonso
His performances for club and country have not gone unnoticed. Chelsea look set to offer him an improved contract offer which will see his wages rise from £3.5 million to £4.5 million. Emerson is going through the best period of his career right now which is good for his confidence and development, at 25 years old, he is still young and has a lot to offer, Emerson has made more passes than any other Chelsea player in the Premier League at an incredible pass-success rate of 84.5%, On current form, it looks like Emerson has made the left-back spot his own now and Marcos Alonso seems to have fallen back in the race..
It was always going to be a very hard task for anyone to replace the legendary Ashley Cole but if Emerson can continue his brilliant start to the season and perform consistently, Chelsea could have a gem on their hands, their Left-Back problem might be sorted which would allow them to go big and strengthen in other positions in the summer 2020 transfer window.
