{"id":7161,"date":"2026-05-11T10:10:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T10:10:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=7161"},"modified":"2026-05-11T10:10:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T10:10:35","slug":"chelsea-edge-closer-to-sanctioning-first-summer-sale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=7161","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea edge closer to sanctioning first summer sale"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p>                                            10 May 2026 17:08 BST                                                                                            <span class=\"article-publish-date__separator\">|<\/span><br \/>\n                                                4 min read                                                                                    <\/p>\n<figure class=\"large-img\">\n                                                <picture><source srcset=\"https:\/\/static.footballtransfers.com\/images\/cf\/image\/upload\/1853ba89-12df-4a2e-161d-98fab364a900\/w=1200,h=675,quality=95,fit=cover,format=auto\" media=\"(min-width: 960px)\"><source srcset=\"https:\/\/static.footballtransfers.com\/images\/cf\/image\/upload\/1853ba89-12df-4a2e-161d-98fab364a900\/w=640,h=360,quality=95,fit=cover,format=auto\" media=\"(min-width: 480px)\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-image-size=\"retina\" class=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" alt=\"Todd Boehly, Chelsea\" src=\"https:\/\/static.footballtransfers.com\/images\/cf\/image\/upload\/1853ba89-12df-4a2e-161d-98fab364a900\/w=1200,h=675,quality=95,fit=cover,format=auto,q=95\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/source><\/source><\/picture><figcaption><figcaption>\u00a9 IMAGO <\/figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"author\">\n<figure class=\"author-thumb\">\n                                                        <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-image-size=\"not_specified\" class=\"\" width=\"112\" height=\"112\" alt=\"Cameron Smith\" src=\"https:\/\/static.footballtransfers.com\/images\/cf\/image\/upload\/footballcritic\/miatgxl3mmf30nktvbwt\/w=112,h=112,quality=75,fit=cover,format=auto\"\/>                                                    <\/figure>\n<div class=\"article-author-info\">\n<div class=\"article-author-name\">\n<p>                                                        Cameron Smith<br \/>\n                                                                                                                    <span class=\"article-author-separator\">|<\/span><br \/>\n                                                            <span>Digital Content Producer<\/span>\n                                                                                                            <\/div>\n<p class=\"article-author-desc\">\n<p>                                                        Accredited sports journalist covering football since 2020                                                    <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Benoit Badiashile is highly likely to leave Chelsea this summer and the return to fitness of Levi Colwill is expected to push him towards the exit door even faster.<\/p>\n<p><center class=\"p-1 light-grey-bg\">Article continues under the video<\/center> <\/p>\n<p>The Frenchman has only played 16 times across all competitions this season and he hasn\u2019t been included in Chelsea\u2019s matchday squad for their last six Premier League fixtures.<\/p>\n<p>Badiashile\u2019s last appearance in the English top flight came against West Ham United on 31 January and he is now behind Wesley Fofana, Jorrel Hato, Trevoh Chalobah, Tosin Adarabioyo, Josh Acheampong and the aforementioned Colwill in the centre-back pecking order at Stamford Bridge.<\/p>\n<p>Mamadou Sarr has also been selected for a Premier League squad more recently than Badiashile and the writing is firmly on the wall in regards to his Chelsea career.<\/p>\n<p>Widespread reports have confirmed that Chelsea will sign a new central defender this summer following their woes this campaign, with the club eager to secure the signature of a long-term partner for Colwill, who made his first start of the season versus Liverpool this weekend.<\/p>\n<p>The England international has missed the entire season with an anterior cruciate ligament injury, but he returned off the bench against Nottingham Forest on Monday before playing the entire 90 minutes during Chelsea\u2019s 1-1 draw with Arne Slot\u2019s side on Saturday.<\/p>\n<div class=\"col-md-12 p-0 d-flex image-container\">\n<figure class=\"article-image\"><picture><source srcset=\"https:\/\/static.footballtransfers.com\/images\/cf\/image\/upload\/87e616e7-c4da-4458-5046-87b3df669200\/w=1200,h=675,quality=95,fit=cover,format=auto\" media=\"(min-width: 960px)\"><source srcset=\"https:\/\/static.footballtransfers.com\/images\/cf\/image\/upload\/87e616e7-c4da-4458-5046-87b3df669200\/w=640,h=360,quality=95,fit=cover,format=auto\" media=\"(min-width: 480px)\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-image-size=\"retina\" class=\"lazyload\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Benoit Badiashile, Chelsea\" src=\"https:\/\/static.footballtransfers.com\/images\/cf\/image\/upload\/87e616e7-c4da-4458-5046-87b3df669200\/w=750,h=422,quality=95,fit=cover,format=auto,q=95\"\/><\/source><\/source><\/picture><figcaption>\u00a9 IMAGO &#8211; Benoit Badiashile, Chelsea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Benoit Badiashile set to leave Chelsea<\/h2>\n<p>With Colwill and Hato both rated higher as left-footed central defenders by Chelsea, it\u2019s clear that Badiashile\u2019s career at the club will likely come to an end this summer if they are able to find a suitable buyer.<\/p>\n<p>The Frenchman has been heavily linked with AC Milan over the past few months and rumours of a San Siro switch are set to intensify if he continues to be overlooked by Chelsea interim head coach Calum McFarlane.<\/p>\n<p>Badiashile still has four years remaining on his current contract at Stamford Bridge, but he is likely to be added to the club\u2019s 2026 \u2018Bomb Squad\u2019 alongside compatriot Axel Disasi and fellow unwanted stars Tyrique George and David Datro Fofana, all three of whom left Chelsea on loan in January.<\/p>\n<h2>Related stories:<\/h2>\n<p><b class=\"arrowed\">Chelsea\u2019s 10 biggest transfer sale mistakes<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b class=\"arrowed\">Chelsea Transfer News Today: \u20ac46m Nwaneri bid as wonderkid chooses his next club<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b class=\"arrowed\">Transfer Rumours: Man Utd promise Tonali offer as Liverpool bid laughed off<\/b><\/p>\n<h2>  The FootballTransfers app <\/h2>\n<p>Check out FootballTransfers&#8217; new app for all of football&#8217;s big storylines, transfer rumours and exclusive news in one convenient place directly on your mobile device.<\/p>\n<p>The FootballTransfers app is available on Google Play and in the Apple App Store. Download here:<\/p>\n<p><b>\u2022Google Play<\/b><\/p>\n<p>\u2022App Store<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>10 May 2026 17:08 BST | 4 min read \u00a9 IMAGO Cameron Smith | Digital&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7161","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\/7161","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=7161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}