Monaco sign Chelsea target Alexsandr Golovin from CSKA Moscow

Chelsea lose on Alexsandr Golovin

Monaco have announced the signing of CSKA Moscow midfielder Aleksandr Golovin despite interest from the Premier League.

Golovin, 22, played an essential role in the World Cup as Russia reached the quarter-finals, beating 2010-winnners Spain along the way.

Naturally his exploits in the quadrennial tournament alerted some of the continent’s elite clubs, and Chelsea were believed to be frontrunners to secure the services of the Siberian footballer.

However, the Kaltan-born midfielder has now ended his six-year association in the Russian capital and will move to the French Riviera on a five-year contract, keeping him at the Stade Louis II until June 2023.

Golovin has signed for an undisclosed fee, though reports suggest the figure is in the region of £20m.

Vadim Vasilyev – AS Monaco Vice President and Chief Executive Officer – told the club’s official website that his performances in the World Cup convinced the club to swoop in for the player, as well as revealing that they fended off competition from a number of high-profile clubs.

He said: “We are very happy with the arrival of Aleksandr Golovin at AS Monaco. He is a talented young player, very prominent during the World Cup, but we have been following him for a long time.

Let us have a look at his Tactical profile-

Golovin’s career so far

Here x stands for expected 

Club appearances: 113

Key stat: 42 successful passes per 90 puts him fifth among midfielders in the Russian Premier League last season.

Key quote:

Kaltan-born Golovin grew up playing futsal, and joined FC Novokuznetsk in 2009 before moving to CSKA in 2012.

After impressing in the youth ranks Golovin broke into the CSKA first-team in the 2014/2015 season, and has gone on to become the club’s best player, notching 113 appearances and 13 goals.

Soon after breaching the Moscovite XI, the speedy midfielder was called up to the national team, and he featured in Russia’s Euro 2016 group games before they eventually bowed out.

Golovin’s style of play

The Russian has a strong game generally but his real strength lies in his set-piece ability and attacking qualities: his dribbling and passing levels are on course to match football’s elite. At the World Cup he’s already managed 2.5 key passes per game, along with the aforementioned goal and two assists, and has completed one dribble per game too.

In the Russian Premier League, where he made 27 appearances for CSKA last term, he managed five goals and four assists along with 1.5 key passes and 1.8 dribbles per appearance. He also gets fouled often, 2.5 times a game, unsurprising as his side’s best player.

Generally speaking Golovin is at his most threatening with the ball: dribbling, passing and shooting. He likes to play short passes and his standout attribute is his ability to run with the ball thanks to his stellar technique and pace.

But all this does neglect his defensive capacity somewhat. Like any modern central midfielder he has a hefty defensive duty and he fulfils it diligently. At the World Cup he’s made three tackles per 90, has attempted 4.5 per game whilst being dribbled past 1.5 times. In the league, those figures were 1.5, 2 and 0.5 respectively.

Golovin also makes a decent number of interceptions for a player of his ilk: 1.5 at the World Cup, 1.7 in the Champions League and one in the Russian Premier League, per game.

He will be a great signing for AsMonaco should he perform in Ligue 1.He will also benefit from Monaco's system as they have now built a reputation for moulding youngsters into quality players