Axel Disasi exclusive: Chelsea defender on deadline drama & why he's eager to grasp Aston Villa chance
Axel Disasi woke up on transfer deadline day expecting to end it in the same place he started.
Instead, by the time he eventually got to sleep in the early hours of the following morning, he was at Villa, a loan deal from parent club Chelsea which had become something of a saga during the window’s final week having finally been signed off with just 15 minutes to spare.
“It was stressful, very stressful,” smiles Disasi now. “When I woke up on the morning I was thinking I would stay at Chelsea and play, or not play, I don’t know.
“Then in the afternoon things were going on, things changed, I was going, then not going, then going again. I think I signed at 10.45, so 15 minutes later it would have been too late. But I am here and please God, I am happy.”
It is safe to assume Villa feel the same way. With playing in defence for Unai Emery’s team now only just behind Wall of Death rider on the list of the world’s most dangerous professions, the importance of getting Disasi’s signing over the line has only grown further in the fortnight since it was completed.
As the 26-year-old’s words make clear, it was also a deal he wanted desperately too. Sitting down in a corner of Villa’s Bodymoor Heath training ground, Disasi remarks how he feels “better as a human person” and “free” following a move which, while only temporary for now, feels very much a fresh start.
These past six months have represented a rare period of uncertainty in a career which had only been in the ascendency since he left Reims for Monaco in 2020. That four-year spell up to last summer included a trip to the World Cup and a £36.2million move to Chelsea in 2023.
Disasi played 44 times for the west London club last season. By contrast, his Villa debut in last Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Ipswich was just his fifth Premier League start of the current campaign.
His struggles can be traced back to the final weeks of last term, when he played through the pain barrier to help Chelsea qualify for Europe, undergoing injections before each match to ease the discomfort of a groin injury.
