18 May 2026 14:59 BST |<\/span> Cameron Smith Accredited sports journalist covering football since 2020 <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Chelsea interim head coach Calum McFarlane has inadvertently hinted that a number of central defenders could be sold by the club during the upcoming summer transfer window.<\/p>\n The Blues are expected to sign a ready-made centre-back before the start of the 2026-27 season, with Xabi Alonso set to be involved in negotiations, and at least one current star is therefore likely to be offloaded on a permanent deal.<\/p>\n Chelsea currently have 10 senior central defenders on their books, including Axel Disasi and Aaron Anselmino, who are both out on loan, and the return to full fitness of Levi Colwill means they are now over-subscribed in that area of the pitch.<\/p>\n Benoit Badiashile and Mamadou Sarr were both excluded from the matchday squad to face Manchester City in the FA Cup final on Saturday afternoon, with Wesley Fofana, Jorrel Hato and Colwill selected in the starting XI and Trevoh Chalobah, Tosin Adarabioyo and Josh Acheampong named on the substitutes bench.<\/p>\n Speaking to reporters ahead of Chelsea\u2019s match against Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday, McFarlane admitted: \u201cBenoit and Mamadou didn’t make the squad – we can use them in the next two games potentially. We have a lot of players in their position.\u201d<\/p>\n With McFarlane acknowledging that Chelsea have too many centre-backs to select them all in a matchday squad, it\u2019s clear that at least one of their current options will be offloaded permanently this summer.<\/p>\n Colwill is one of the best central defenders in the Premier League and his last two performances – versus Liverpool and Man City – have highlighted just how sorely he has been missed this season.<\/p>\n As a result, the England international will form the bedrock of Alonso\u2019s backline next season, while Fofana\u2019s recent upturn in form has unsurprisingly coincided with Colwill\u2019s return to fitness. The Frenchman has been linked with an exit, but he should be retained as he is an excellent partner for Colwill at the back.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Hato has quietly enjoyed an impressive run of form and Chalobah is a solid rotation option. Those four players should form the core of Chelsea\u2019s centre-back options next season, alongside whoever they choose to sign.<\/p>\n Offers should, however, be considered for Disasi, Badiashile and Tosin, while Anselmino and Sarr could depart too.<\/p>\n Acheampong needs consistent game time and sending him out on loan for the 2026-27 season would be wise, unless Alonso plans to use the England U21 international on a regular basis.<\/p>\n Build The FIFA World Cup 2026\u2122: LEGO\u00a9 releases stunning football-inspired collection<\/b><\/p>\n Xabi Alonso is Chelsea\u2019s new manager \u2013 and his job title matters<\/b><\/p>\n Transfer Rumours: Mourinho eyes Man City star as first Real Madrid signing<\/b><\/p>\n Check out FootballTransfers’ new app for all of football’s big storylines, transfer rumours and exclusive news in one convenient place directly on your mobile device.<\/p>\n The FootballTransfers app is available on Google Play and in the Apple App Store. Download here:<\/p>\n \u2022Google Play<\/b><\/p>\n \u2022App Store<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 18 May 2026 14:59 BST | 4 min read \u00a9 IMAGO Cameron Smith | Digital…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Verdict: Which centre-backs should Chelsea sell this summer?<\/h2>\n
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