West Ham United now have five Premier League clean sheets in 2025/26, with all but one of those coming since Axel Disasi made his debut in February’s 2-0 win at Burnley.
Coincidence? Clearly not.
While centre-back partner-tuned-goalscoring specialist Konstantinos Mavropanos is the talk of the town right now, Axel Disasi is shaping up to be West Ham United’s most transformative January addition since Jarrod Bowen and Tomas Soucek arrived in East London half a decade ago.
They say never fall in love with a loan player, but we’ve all done it before 😂
A graphic asking West Ham United fans when they last loved a loan player as much as Axel Disasi.
Credit; Getty Images/Izzy Poles – AMA
No wonder West Ham are keen to keep Disasi on a permanent basis, as Hammers News have been told this week.
But with Chelsea’s defensive record right now nothing short of abysmal, the biggest obstacle standing in Nuno Espirito Santo’s way could be the needs of Disasi’s parent club.
Chelsea could do with West Ham United loanee Axel Disasi right now
It was reported five weeks ago that Chelsea would consider selling Disasi for around £20 million in the summer. The Blues were coming off a 4-1 away win at Champions League rivals Aston Villa at the time; the Liam Rosenior era starting promisingly enough.
Soungoutou Magassa and Axel Disasi celebrate after West Ham United beat Brentford in the FA Cup.
Photo by Izzy Poles – AMA/Getty Images
In the month since that report emerged, however, Chelsea have suffered five defeats in their last six matches while conceding an abysmal 15 goals in the process.
£70 million Wesley Fofana was dreadful away to Everton – a 3-0 loss at the home of David Moyes’ side – while Trevor Chalobah, Jorrel Hato and Mamadou Sarr were all given opportunities to impress during the 8-2 aggregate defeat by Paris Saint-Germain.
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Impress they most certainly did not.
Benoit Badiashile, a £35 million signing from Monaco, wasn’t even in the squad for Sunday’s 3-0 thrashing by Manchester City at Stamford Bridge.
So while Chelsea had no qualms about dumping Disasi into the reserves – removing the five-time France international from the first-team picture for the first half of the campaign – the irony will not be lost on anyone. The most in-form Chelsea-owned defender right now is the one spending the spring on loan at West Ham.
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The Hammers do not have an option-to-buy clause in Disasi’s contract
Would Chelsea take Disasi back right now, if they could? On current form, probably. Rosenior, for all his faults, is not the one who sidelined the Frenchman. He has Enzo Maresca to blame for that.
But whether Chelsea will offer Disasi the chance to reclaim a spot at the heart of their backline once his stint in East London comes to an end, well, that remains to be seen.
In theory, West Ham should be pretty well-positioned to retain Disasi should they stave off the threat of relegation. Disasi loves the ‘family’ feel of West Ham life, having been left out in the cold by the corporate, unfeeling environment of Chelsea. The bearhug with which he embraced Nuno after the 4-0 thrashing of Wolves said more than words ever could.
But with no option-to-buy clause in his contract, West Ham and Disasi may still find themselves at the whims of his parent club. His imploding, haemorrhaging, defensively-brittle parent club.
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