Latest Blues news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page<\/strong><\/p>\nGabriel Slonina, meanwhile, who is yet to make a first-team appearance for Chelsea since signing from Chicago Fire for \u00a310million in 2022, looks likely to depart before the September 1 deadline.<\/p>\n
There is expected to be plenty of movement in the Chelsea defence this summer also. Levi Colwill won’t be one of those departing. The Blues view the Cobham graduate as untouchable, sources say, and an enormous part of the club’s long-term plans.<\/p>\n
Chelsea want to find Colwill a long-term partner this summer and Maxence Lacroix is seemingly the club’s No.1 target to become just that. The France international is currently at the World Cup with Les Bleus but his representatives have been speaking to the west London club over a possible move this summer.<\/p>\n
Last month, Chelsea made an enquiry to Crystal Palace to begin talks with the Eagles over their defender. With three years left to run on Lacroix’s contract at Selhurst Park, Palace are in a strong position when it comes to the financials involved in any potential deal.<\/p>\n
Palace are looking at other central defenders but look to have lost out on Charlie Cresswell, who is reportedly Rennes-bound. Chelsea are waiting patiently for their London rivals, who need centre backs in the building before they would even consider selling Lacroix and then the focus would switch to agreeing a fee with Palace for the Frenchman.<\/p>\n
Lacroix is not the be-all and end-all from a Chelsea perspective. Jacobo Ramon is another option in the centre of defence, sources say, and there are understood to be numerous other names on the club’s shortlist of targets.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, Trevoh Chalobah is looking likely to depart Stamford Bridge after almost 20 years with the west London club. Inter Milan appear to be the front-runners for the 27-year-old’s signature at the time of writing, with the Italian champions overtaking Serie A rivals Como in the race.<\/p>\n
Chelsea, sources say, will accept something in the \u00a335m-region for Chalobah, who is said to be considering his options this summer.<\/p>\n
The future of Wesley Fofana remains up in the air. After a disappointing 25\/26 season for the French defender, there is plenty of speculation over his future at Stamford Bridge. The same can be said about Tosin Adarabioyo and Benoit Badiashile.<\/p>\n
From a squad depth point of view, losing all three, as well as Chalobah, would leave plenty of work to do in the transfer market – especially if Alonso wants to play with a three-back system at the Bridge (that is still to be confirmed).<\/p>\n
Mamadou Sarr could be allowed to depart on loan again after his spell with Strasbourg was cut short during the January transfer window. Sarr was recalled from his loan due to numerous injuries at the back for former head coach Liam Rosenior but the Senegal international barely had a sniff in the second half of the season.<\/p>\n
Chelsea are open to offers for Axel Disasi after his impressive loan spell at West Ham United. Aaron Anselmino is expected to be loaned out again but remains highly rated by the Blues.<\/p>\n
Work continues behind the scenes to sign Rayo Vallecano left back Pep Chavarria. Club-to-club negotiations between Chelsea and Rayo have been underway for well over a week now but no agreement has been reached at the time of writing.<\/p>\n
Chavarria wants to join Chelsea, sources say, who want another left back option following Marc Cucurella’s \u00a352m move to Real Madrid midway through last month. Chavarria, though, if signed, will not act as a direct replacement for Cucurella, with Stamford Bridge insiders insisting Jorrel Hato will take up a more senior role within the squad in his second season at the club.<\/p>\n
The Netherlands international was one of the Blues’ standout performers from Christmas onwards after he struggled to get going in his very first few matches.<\/p>\n
Reece James is going nowhere – another one in the Chelsea untouchables club. The Blues skipper committed himself to the Bridge in the long term by signing a new contract with the west Londoners towards the back end of the 25\/26 campaign.<\/p>\n
Josh Acheampong is also in the aforementioned club. Chelsea sources stressed to football.london <\/strong>last month the Cobham graduate is untouchable after the Blues rebuffed several offers from various European clubs for the versatile defender, who will be desperate for more regular first-team minutes under a new manager in Alonso.<\/p>\nMalo Gusto is available for sale this summer, though Chelsea are not actively looking to move the France international on. The Blues are aware of a keen interest from Manchester City and former head coach Enzo Maresca, but the Citizens are reluctant to meet the west Londoners’ \u00a375m valuation of the versatile right back.<\/p>\n
Chelsea are open to selling Gusto after the arrival of Marco Palestra from Atalanta. The Blues struck a \u00a347m (total package) deal with the Italians for the 21-year-old defender last month and he is set to be a key player for Alonso next season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The latest transfer news coming out of Stamford Bridge with Chelsea chiefs looking to improve…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15106","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\/15106","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=15106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}