For those wondering what to expect from Dario Essugo at Chelsea, here are the words he chose to describe his game at the start of his season-long loan at Las Palmas last summer.
“I know I can contribute a more physical game to the team, with a lot of contact,” he said at his unveiling press conference on arrival in Gran Canaria from Portuguese giants Sporting, as reported by Las Palmas’s official website. “I like to steal the ball and move forward. I can provide defensive security; that’s what I want, to help achieve the team’s goals.”
On the surface, that description makes Essugo exactly the type of midfielder that many Chelsea supporters have been crying out for this season, either to partner Moises Caicedo against more physically intense Premier League opposition or to relieve part of his huge minutes burden.
Having only celebrated his 20th birthday this week, he also fits the profile of player that Clearlake Capital have chosen to channel the bulk of their vast recruitment investment towards over the last two years. But that makes his arrival less likely to satisfy supporters who believe Enzo Maresca’s squad is being held back by a lack of high-level experience.
Essugo has at least been involved in the senior professional game for three years, ever since becoming Sporting’s youngest-ever debutant at 16 years and six days when he came on as a late substitute in a 1-0 league win over Vitoria de Guimaraes on March 20, 2021. His elevation to the first team came before he had made a single appearance for the club’s junior, under-23 or B teams, and the significance of the moment brought him to tears at the final whistle.
As lágrimas do Leão mais jovem de sempre a estrear-se pela Equipa Principal do #SportingCP 💚
Que seja o primeiro de muitos, @darioessugo6! 🙌 #MadeInSporting
🎥 @SPORTTVPortugal pic.twitter.com/3MgScvRYTF— Sporting CP (@SportingCP) March 20, 2021
Sporting’s coach at the time, Ruben Amorim, was impressed by the quality Essugo brought to first-team training in the days leading up to the match and encouraged him to express himself during his cameo. “I told him: ‘Joao Mario, who has a yellow card, is going to come off’,” Amorim explained afterwards, as reported by MAGG. “I need someone to help (Joao) Palhinha. When you have the ball, you have more freedom than Palhinha.’”
That advice could be applied to the way Essugo, a tenacious defensive midfielder with some playmaking skill, has tried to take onto the pitch ever since. But most of his opportunities to grow in the senior game have come away from Sporting, where he was behind the likes of Palhinha, Joao Mario, Matheus Nunes, Manuel Ugarte, Hidemasa Morita and Morten Hjulmand in the midfield units that helped Amorim surpass Porto and Benfica to win two Primeira Liga titles.
Essugo winning the ball back against Betis (Fran Santiago/Getty Images)
Essugo managed just 10 league appearances for Sporting before embarking on his first loan spell with Portuguese minnows Chaves in August 2024. There he got his first taste of being a regular starter in a team that finished bottom of the Primeira Liga while his parent club finished first, meaning he ended the season with the rare achievement of simultaneously adding a relegation and a league title to his career resume.
He may end up repeating the feat this season; Sporting are well positioned to be Portuguese champions again while Las Palmas are on course to drop out of La Liga. Essugo’s contribution has highlighted both his quality and his flaws.
Only five La Liga midfielders to have played 900 or more minutes average more than Essugo’s 1.9 interceptions per 90 minutes, and there have been signs of real on-ball polish despite the team’s relatively direct style. He uses his body well to shield the ball and win duels, and his willingness to receive passes on the turn and beat a man should lend itself well to the demands of Enzo Maresca’s system at Chelsea. His off-ball movement is improving.
But there have also been plenty of errors — most memorably against Real Valladolid last month, when Essugo’s loose pass presented the ball to Anuar Tuhami and prompted Las Palmas teammate Scott McKenna to cynically bring the midfielder down, resulting in a straight red card.
Essugo himself has been sent off twice in his last four appearances for Las Palmas. In the second half of a 1-1 draw with Osasuna in January he responded to receiving a second yellow card in the 72nd minute by sarcastically clapping referee Jesus Gil Manzano, which earned him a further two-match suspension. His most recent outing against Real Betis earlier this month was also cut short by a second yellow card in the 61st minute for a slip and rash tackle on Isco.
Indiscipline is not an unusual issue for a midfielder with Essugo’s particular brief, and his 1.8 fouls per 90 minutes for Las Palmas this season are comparable with Caicedo (2.0 fouls per 90) and Enzo Fernandez (1.8 fouls per 90) at Chelsea. Maresca’s first task with his new midfield signing may simply be to curb the 20-year-old’s worst impulses without the ball.
One of Essugo’s best impulses with the ball occurred in the semi-final of the European Under-17 Championship in 2022.
Essugo celebrating his goal against France (Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)
Portugal were eliminated by eventual winners France on penalties but made it to the shootout because Essugo opted to go for goal from 40 yards, connecting with such purity and velocity into the top corner that teammates put their hands on their heads in disbelief. Goalscoring will never be his primary occupation but striking a ball like that is a nice option to have.
Chelsea’s plan is for Essugo to provide cover for Caicedo next season. He is certainly more seasoned for the position than Mathis Amougou, who was signed for £12.5million in January on the strength of 18 senior league appearances for Saint-Etienne and is expected to be a Strasbourg loanee in 2025-26.
There are signs in his physicality and technique that Essugo may prove well suited to the Premier League — but as is so often the case with Chelsea, it is a bet on potential.
(Top photo: Maciej Rogowski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
