Chelsea stumble in the Premier League at Southampton FC. Despite being in the lead, Thomas Tuchel’s team loses and is particularly hard hit by Armel Bella-Kotchap. The German U21 national player is being celebrated for a development that was not expected of him.
The crowd at St. Mary’s went wild and Bella-Kotchap made wild gestures to encourage them to go wild. As Chelsea angrily tried to brace themselves against their next Premier League defeat, Southampton defender Armel Bella-Kotchap grew in strength. Three minutes before the end of the regular 90 minutes, he started a sprint duel with fast winger Raheem Sterling, won the duel, secured his team’s possession with a throw-in, in which he shot the new signing of the “Blues”.
The Saints beat Thomas Tuchel’s team 2-1, who initially took the lead through Sterling after 23 minutes. But the 1-0 didn’t last long, Roméo Lavia equalized five minutes later, and only seconds before the half-time whistle Adam Armstrong finally brought the game to the side of the hosts. But one of the formative players was Bella-Kotchap, the young central defender, who switched from VfL Bochum to the English south coast for around eleven million euros in the summer. Again and again he used his beefy physique profitably against the rather filigree attackers of Chelsea FC.
Coach Ralph Hasenhüttl later elevated the 20-year-old to man of the game. “If you look at his physical qualities, she’s perfect for the Premier League.” That’s exactly what you’d hoped for from the central defender. For the fourth time in a row, Bella-Kotchap was in the starting XI. He played through for the fourth time in a row. Only on the first day of the game, in the 4-1 swatter against Tottenham Hotspur, did he sit on the bench. It was the scenario that was initially prophesied to him. By Coach Hasenhuttl. In view of five competitors, he had warned: “It’s not that easy to get into the team.” How quickly things change.
Former Premier League star Jermaine Jenas and Saints legend Francis Benail raved about the centre-back’s charisma and sovereignty as pundits at BT Sport. “We’ve seen a maturity well beyond his age. He has excellent positional play and recognizes the dangers. He’s one of the five or six players who made an immediate impression,” said Benali of the Premier League’s newcomers. Jenas said: “He plays very aggressively and has impressive authority.” At the age of 20, he is already able to lead this team and show the other players the way.
The Paris-born Germany U21 international had already been able to read and hear praise for himself on the last matchday when he did a good job against Manchester United despite the 1-0 defeat. And he could have crowned his performance, but missed two top chances. Hasenhüttl only struggled with that for a short time, but the Austrian was impressed by the way the ex-Bochumer acted bravely. “He’s full of confidence – I can see that. He wants to prove himself in the Premier League and it’s good to see he’s got that habit and that’s what we need.”
It’s a development that the ex-RB Leipzig coach didn’t necessarily see coming. Because with all the qualities that are reminiscent of the very young Jérôme Boateng (robust, strong in tackles, sometimes reckless), Hasenhüttl was skeptical whether his new signing was mentally ready for the task. “I was wondering if he had the right attitude but it seems the Premier League is so interesting to him and he’s really focused.” That wasn’t always the case in Bochum. Bella-Kotchap was always credited with a great career at VfL – but occasionally he seemed superior to his own skills and level of development.
Again and again the coaches had to intervene and ground the 20-year-old after bouts of arrogance. “Down to earth” in a way. Another parallel to Boateng (during Bayern time). Thomas Reis, in particular, kept taking his best central defender out of the team to readjust the focus. At the latest in the second half of last season, he understood and his performance had finally become too big for the promoted team. It was a foregone conclusion that he would leave the club after five years together (entry through the U17s). Sportingly a loss that could not be compensated for, but financially a mega deal for the club. He received the highest transfer fee in the club’s history.
He played his first really big game in the DFB Cup against FC Bayern. On October 29, 2019, he became the tragic hero for the then second division team. As a 17-year-old, he delivered a spectacular game for around 80 minutes before becoming more and more flat, carelessly frittering away the ball as the last man in the 88th minute, bringing down Thomas Müller, playing the game device with his hand and seeing red. It was 1:1, seconds later Bayern stabbed mercilessly at that Müller. Bella-Kotchap had already disappeared into the cabin. With great applause from the fans in the Ruhr Stadium. They had encouraged him. how things change
