The statement was brief and to the point, a perfunctory 37-word effort. “Chelsea Football Club is delighted to announce the signing of Cesar Azpilicueta," the club website declared in 2012.
“The 22-year-old right-back, who recently represented Spain at the London Olympics, arrives at Stamford Bridge following a two-year spell in France's Ligue 1 with Marseille." If, a decade later, Chelsea part company with Azpilicueta this summer, the tributes should be longer and rather more glowing.
The Club World Cup’s status can be debated – glorified Super Cup or hugely meaningful prize? – and winning the Champions League felt the harder part, but if Azpilicueta lifts the trophy on Saturday, it will cap an era of silverware for Chelsea and, in particular, for him.
The unheralded signing and understated figure will become the first player to win the lot for Chelsea: Premier League, Champions League and Europa League, FA Cup, Carabao Cup and Community Shield, European Super Cup and Club World Cup. Chelsea may have been indelibly associated with spending under Roman Abramovich but a £6.5 million signing would have a case to be statistically their most successful player. John Terry could forever remain their most iconic captain but, unlike him, Azpilicueta has actually led them in a Champions League final they have won.
He has had the adaptability to flourish under very different Chelsea managers and in different positions. It is a sign of his defensive excellence and positional understanding that a player who was signed as a right-back has arguably been a Chelsea great in two other positions: as a left-back, ending Ashley Cole’s long reign in a brilliant bit of reinvention by Jose Mourinho, and as the right of three centre-backs, courtesy of some similarly inspired thinking by Antonio Conte. Both moves proved decisive in creating Premier League-winning defences. Thomas Tuchel revived Conte’s back three to great effect. Azpilicueta has been a Champions League-winning centre-back and a double Europa League winner as a right-back. He may win the Club World Cup as a right wing-back.
He has been the constant and the chameleon. Azpilicueta has reached 40 games in each of his previous nine campaigns. On 29 now, he should make that 10. In a four-season spell from 2015, he only missed two league games. In the fifth year, his attendance levels dropped: he sat out two.
In his own unflustered way, he has steadily climbed the charts, leaving many an iconic Chelsea player in his wake. There have been more celebrated, more glamorous, more stylish and more dynamic imports – Didier Drogba, Gianfranco Zola, Eden Hazard – but Petr Cech is the only foreigner to have played more games for Chelsea than Azpilicueta, with 458. Among outfielders, he ranks first among imports. In their golden era, only Terry, Frank Lampard and Cech are above him. Should Azpilicueta go when his contract expires in the summer, he will leave seventh in Chelsea’s all-time appearance list.
Stay and perhaps some of his future would lie on the bench, considering Reece James’ progress this season, Chelsea’s interest in signing Jules Kounde last summer and the possibility a new defence will emerge next year. Azpilicueta’s attitude and versatility may equip him for the squad player’s duties but a man who was long ever-present could be forgiven for wanting to start elsewhere.
Tuchel’s choices sometimes reflect the sense his captain is slowing as he gets older: arguably he peaked between 2014 and 2019. At times then, he was immaculate, the clean tackler and neat passer who rarely had a hair out of play, the flawless defender with the footballing intelligence to adjust to new roles and to satisfy managerial perfectionists.
Azpilicueta may be a figure from a slightly earlier age, neither the full-back as playmaker, like Trent Alexander-Arnold or Joao Cancelo, or as the penalty-box scorer, as James and Ben Chilwell appeared in autumn. Yet in his low-key way, he was the expert crosser for a series of Alvaro Morata strikes. His backheeled flick brought a goal against Plymouth last week; it was the finish of a flair player but came courtesy of the most consistent and unfussy of defenders.
For years, Azpilicueta’s quiet excellence meant he could blend into the background. That will be altogether harder if he holds the Club World Cup in his hands.
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