Chelsea are in advanced negotiations with Benoit Badiashile as Fabrizio Romano provides an update on Josko Gvardiol and Piero Hincapie.
With Thiago Silva reaching the latter stages of his career and Wesley Fofana suffering from regular injuries, Chelsea’s January transfer window is likely to involve targeting a new central defender.
With Todd Boehly looking to target younger, up-and-coming players, three youthful defenders have been linked with Chelsea, and Fabrizio Romano has now provided an update, speaking exclusively to CaughtOffside via his Substack column.
“Big news yesterday as Chelsea have entered into advanced negotiations over Benoit Badiashile. Some fans asked me about this as it came slightly out of the blue, but he has been on their radar for a while.
Chelsea sent their scouts to monitor Badiashile multiple times in the last six months, he’s highly rated; Juventus also had the player on their list but they decided to invest on Bremer in the summer. Chelsea are now in advanced talks, they are optimistic.
As for other options, it’s all quiet on the Piero Hincapie side as of now, just normal interest, while RB Leipzig want more than €90m for Josko Gvardiol.”
Gvardiol could be considered a little expensive for Chelsea to pursue, so it makes sense to see them linked with alternative options. Now, it appears they’ve opted to push for Badiashile, another exciting young talent in Europe.
At the age of 21, Badiashile is far from reaching his full potential, but is already a regular for his club and was recently called up to the French national team.
Being a left-sided centre-back, Badiashile can slot into a Graham Potter back three, providing balance on the left-hand side.
