Chidozie Awaziem leads every defender in Ligue 1 with 158 clearances this season. It’s an impressive record. It’s also a number that tells a painful story about what he’s had to deal with at FC Nantes.
There’s a version of this headline that reads as a triumph. Nigerian international Chidozie Awaziem leads all of Ligue 1 in clearances with 158 to his name this season, ahead of Toulouse’s Charlie Cresswell on 152 and Lorient’s Montassar Talbi on 143. Statistical websites have rated him as Nantes’ best player. In a season that has been deeply difficult for one of France’s storied clubs, Awaziem has been the last line of sanity.
But here’s the thing about leading a league in clearances: it usually means you’ve been under siege. The 29-year-old hasn’t been cleared because Nantes are dominant. He’s been clearing because Nantes’ defence has been one of the three worst in Ligue 1, and he’s been doing the work of a man who knows that if he doesn’t deal with it himself, no one will.
Nantes’ Defensive Collapse
Since Ahmed Kantari took over as manager, the defensive problems at Nantes have worsened rather than stabilised. Nicolas Cozza, Kelvin Amian, and Tylel Tati have all had difficult campaigns. Tati in particular has been singled out for costly individual errors, leading to his exclusion from the team at various points. The backline has functioned as a unit in name only.
Into that chaos, Awaziem has brought the only thing he could: relentless physicality, positional awareness, and the willingness to put his body on the line match after match. His 158 clearances aren’t just a statistical milestone. They’re proof of how much pressure this defence has absorbed, and how much of that Awaziem has personally absorbed on its behalf.
| Player | Club | Clearances |
|---|---|---|
| Chidozie Awaziem | FC Nantes | 158 |
| Charlie Cresswell | Toulouse | 152 |
| Montassar Talbi | Lorient | 143 |
The Long Ball Problem
Awaziem’s clearances tell one part of the story. His long ball stats tell another story. He ranks second in all of Ligue 1 for long passes this season, behind only Porto’s Vitinha (on loan). For a centre-back at a club struggling to build from the back, that number isn’t a badge of tactical sophistication. It reflects a team being forced to bypass the midfield because they can’t control pressure in their own half.
Many of those long balls are quickly conceded by Nantes’ midfielders, leaving the team exposed to immediate counter-attacks. The cycle is brutal: Awaziem clears. The ball comes back. He clears again. The stats accumulate, and none of them translates into results.
He’s also been cited for misplaced passes in attempted forward distribution, which is a fair criticism. A centre-back playing under this kind of sustained pressure, asked to carry the ball out under duress and distribute to teammates who are struggling, will accumulate errors. That’s a structural problem at Nantes, not an individual failing by Awaziem.
What This Means for the Super Eagles
Awaziem is a Super Eagles regular and a credible option for Eric Chelle’s centre-back selections. The question his Nantes form raises isn’t whether he’s good enough for Nigeria — his Ligue 1 clearance record confirms his defensive quality. The question is whether playing for a struggling club affects his confidence and tactical rhythm heading into international duty.
As FootballInNigeria.com.ng has tracked this season, Nigeria’s central defensive options have been a recurring area of discussion under Chelle. Awaziem’s experience and Ligue 1 pedigree keep him relevant. But Super Eagles fans will be hoping that his next club environment is one that lets him defend in a more organised, less crisis-driven structure.
Editorial: Awaziem Deserves a Better Stage
The raw numbers are genuinely impressive. Leading Ligue 1 in clearances is not something a poor defender achieves. You have to be consistently, reliably present in the right places, reading the game quickly enough to get there before the attack does. That’s Awaziem this season.
The problem is context. The numbers reflect a player working harder than any player should have to work because the structure around him is broken. He’s been rated Nantes’ best player in a season where Nantes have been one of the division’s worst defensive units. That’s a contradiction that speaks volumes about how much Awaziem has personally been carrying.
He’s 29. He’s in the prime years of a professional footballer’s career. If there’s a transfer window this summer that moves him to a better-organised outfit, it could unlock a version of Awaziem that the Super Eagles would benefit from enormously. The raw material is clearly there. It needs a better environment to be fully expressed.
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Looking Ahead
Nantes need points to avoid relegation trouble. Awaziem needs a settled defensive unit around him to show what he’s really capable of. Right now, those two things aren’t compatible. But the season isn’t over. And Awaziem, going by his clearance tally, isn’t someone who gives up mid-campaign.
📌 Did You Know?
- Awaziem joined FC Nantes in 2022 after previous spells at Porto, Leganes, Celta Vigo, Nottingham Forest, and Alanyaspor, making him one of the most well-travelled Nigerian defenders of his generation.
- He made his Super Eagles debut in 2018 and was part of the Nigeria squad that reached the 2019 AFCON third-place playoff, where the Eagles beat Tunisia to claim bronze under Gernot Rohr.
- Awaziem’s 158 clearances lead the entire Ligue 1 this season, a figure that represents roughly 6.1 clearances per appearance if he has made around 26 starts, which ranks among the highest individual workloads for any centre-back in Europe’s top five leagues.
- FC Nantes, founded in 1943, has won the Ligue 1 title eight times, making it one of France’s most historically significant clubs, though it has been in the lower half of the table for much of the past decade.
- Charlie Cresswell, who ranks second in Ligue 1 clearances with 152, is an English centre-back on loan from Leeds United at Toulouse, highlighting how the clearances leaderboard this season is dominated by defenders playing for teams under pressure.
- Awaziem’s secondary ranking of second in Ligue 1 for long passes underscores the tactical reality at Nantes: a team unable to sustain possession through the midfield and forced to bypass it with long distribution, a pattern that leaves the defence perpetually exposed.
- The last Nigerian centre-back to lead a top European league in a major defensive statistical category was Kenneth Omeruo, who was rated among Leganes’ top performers for clearance rate during their La Liga spell between 2017 and 2019.
