Axel Disasi exclusive: Chelsea defender on deadline drama & why he's eager to grasp Aston Villa chance

“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.

It was the first significant injury of his career and when Disasi underwent surgery in the early weeks of last summer, it left him playing catch-up under new boss Enzo Maresca.

“Being injured is a feeling I didn’t know,” he says. “It was strange, to feel my body was losing me.

“I had to improve my strength again and it was a long process because this type of injury is quite complex. But I am getting better and better and today, I am OK.”

Disasi, who speaks excellent English, has learned many ways of escaping the pressure or frustrations his profession can bring. Chief among them is his love of music, of genres as wide-ranging from rap to classical. A keen piano player, he began learning the instrument shortly after turning professional at Reims.

“I wasn’t playing so much and it helped me a lot,” he says. “For me, it makes me think about things other than football. When my brain is outside of football, it is better. It means when I come back to football, I have more energy.

“I love music. Not only rap and things but I also like classical. When I hear it, it makes me feel calm. Sometimes with music, my thoughts are better.”

Even more important than off-field distractions are the experiences Disasi can draw on from the formative years of his career which, for a French player, were far from typical. 

Overlooked by professional academies, he continued to attend school while playing for his hometown club, Villiers-le-Bel, just north of Paris. Even when professional clubs did come calling, first Paris FC and then Reims, Disasi had to fight for his chance. He made his debut in the French Second Division for Reims when still on semi-professional forms. Such a route, he says, helped toughen his mindset.

“The way I didn’t go in an academy, when other friends were doing that, it made me stronger in my head,” he explains. 

“When you are a kid, obviously, you want to be in an academy when your dream is to play football. When you don’t get it at 14 and you see friends going there, you can be a little bit sad. 

“But I kept dreaming, I kept working and pushing, pushing, pushing. All of this spirit I have had through my career.”

Disasi continues: “When you have periods you don’t play, or the manager doesn’t trust you, things like that, you just have to work and be patient because it is the only thing to do. 

“The last six months when I did not play because it was the choice of the manager, or an injury, whatever, this kind of period, from my past, I already have it. 

“The way I came out from it in the past, I use it now when I have bad periods like the past six months. It is just about experience and keep going. One day your chance will come and you have to take it.”

It is why he is determined to grasp this opportunity now with Villa. One phone call with Emery and the Villa manager’s right-hand men, Damian Vidagany and Monchi, was all it took to convince Disasi this was the place he wanted to be. Other clubs, including Tottenham, were interested but in his mind it was always Villa.

“He (Emery) just said he trusted my potential and if he brought me here, he could help me increase my game,” says Disasi. 

“I needed to hear that from a manager like this because he gave me confidence with that speech. 

“Monchi and Damian too, the call with those three was very nice because I was safe and I had the feeling they know what they do. For me it was very important because it made me feel secure about my choice.”

Disasi, who made many of his Chelsea appearances this season at right-back, confirms his preference is to play at his more natural position of centre-back but says he is happy to fit in wherever Emery requires. Considering the increasingly patchwork feel to Villa’s backline, with Ezri Konsa and even makeshift centre-back Boubacar Kamara having succumbed to injury in the two matches since his arrival, that will be music to the manager’s ears.

Further disruption will be caused, however, by Disasi’s inability to play against his parent club Chelsea on Saturday, or in the FA Cup.

But when available he will have a crucial role to play, starting with Wednesday’s visit of Premier League leaders Liverpool. There is also a last-16 tie in the Champions League, a competition in which Disasi has never played, on the horizon.

“It’s exciting,” he says. “That is also why I came here because the club are getting more and more ambitious. I love the way they work. It is the way I like to work too. 

“When I had the call with Villa the way the club was working was clever and ambitious at the same time. 

“They have brought me here to help and I am ready. For the moment I am just here to play for the six months but at the end of that, you never know. We’ll see what happens.”