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Robin Bairner|<\/span>Chief Editor<\/span>\n <\/div>\n\n
Accredited football journalist and editor covering the game since 2006 <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Make us your Google favourite<\/span><\/p>\nChelsea\u2019s hunt for a new centre-back has seen them turn to Crystal Palace\u2019s Maxence Lacroix, but after being quoted a huge asking price from the Eagles, the Blues should turn their attentions towards a well-respected academy product.<\/p>\n
Article continues under the video<\/center> <\/p>\nAfter a disappointing campaign that saw the Blues miss out on European qualification, one of the main tasks handed to new manager Xabi Alonso has been to strengthen Chelsea\u2019s defence.<\/p>\n
The urgency to do this has been increased due to the sale of Marc Cucurella to Real Madrid, with the Spain international having been capable of filling in as a centre-back in a three-man defence or on the left of Alonso\u2019s rearguard.<\/p>\n
Crystal Palace\u2019s Lacroix price leaves Chelsea with a dilemma<\/h2>\n A central defender had been on Chelsea\u2019s shopping list in any case, and Palace\u2019s Lacroix has been earmarked as one of the club\u2019s top possibilities.<\/p>\n
The 26-year-old will not come cheap, though. The Times<\/i><\/b> reports that Palace have slapped an asking price of \u00a355 million (\u20ac65m) on the head of the former Sochaux and Wolfsburg defender.<\/p>\n
It would be understandable if Chelsea were to baulk at that figure. Lacroix\u2019s Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) sits at \u00a339.5m (\u20ac46.4m), indicating that the London club are being asked to pay a huge premium for the player.<\/p>\n
But there are other attractive options who could be on the market, with one in particular ticking all the boxes that Chelsea need for a successful signing.<\/p>\n
There are two non-negotiables for Chelsea in this area. Primarily, any signing has to be of a high standard to enhance the squad. Secondly, experience, particularly in the Premier League, is a plus.<\/p>\n
On top of this, Chelsea clearly like Lacroix\u2019s profile as a ball-playing defender, so any arrival should have a similar playing style.<\/p>\n
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\u00a9 IMAGO – Maxence Lacroix: Crystal Palace demanding \u00a355m transfer fee<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nWhy Fikayo Tomori is the better Chelsea option<\/h2>\n In Fikayo Tomori, the Blues have the perfect option. After coming through the Blues\u2019 academy, he has honed his talents in Serie A with AC Milan and at 28 years old is at the peak of his powers.<\/p>\n
He already has 27 first-team appearances at Chelsea to his credit, including 17 in the Premier League. He has become an undisputed starter with Milan and has shown impressive reliability throughout his career, with a hamstring problem in 2023\/24 being the last time he missed any games through injury.<\/p>\n
Tomori offers better value than Lacroix<\/h2>\n Quality, meanwhile, is not an issue. Data analytics firm SciSports gives him a SciSkill rating of 109.5 based on hundreds of in-game statistics. This is higher than the 99.6 that Lacroix boasts and is higher than the 109.3 potential that the experts believe the Frenchman possesses.<\/p>\n
In terms of value for money, too, Tomori trumps Lacroix comfortably. He is out of contract next summer and is, therefore, likely to be available for a comparatively cheap figure.<\/p>\n
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\u00a9 SciSports – Fikayo Tomori vs. Maxence Lacroix, Career Development<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nThe Canadian-born star\u2019s ETV sits at \u20ac14.8m, and even if Chelsea were to be quoted a price higher than this figure, it would be justified based on the player\u2019s current ability and the saving they would make in comparison to Lacroix.<\/p>\n
Many clubs, meanwhile, might look at Tomori\u2019s greater age as a drawback, but for Chelsea, where there has been an overreliance on youth and a lack of leadership, it should actually be seen as a positive.<\/p>\n
It may not be a fashionable shout, but Tomori is a player the Blues should certainly be studying after Palace\u2019s Lacroix valuation.<\/p>\n
Related stories:<\/h2>\n Mykhailo Mudryk hints at Chelsea return amid doping ban<\/b><\/p>\n
Transfer Rumours: Ayyoub Bouaddi progress as Chelsea breakthrough imminent<\/b><\/p>\n
Premier League summer transfers 2026: All the Done Deals<\/b><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
18 Jul 2026 13:01 BST | 4 min read \u00a9 IMAGO Robin Bairner | Chief…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18537","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\/18537","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=18537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}