Fabrizio Romano: Chelsea in advanced talks to sign Benoit Badiashile, official proposal submitted
According to Transfer Guru Fabrizio Romano, Chelsea are in advanced talks to sign AS Monaco defender Benoit Badiashile with an official proposal submitted.
Romano further reveals that the negotiations are now in progress. The fee discussed is around €35/40m with the hope that the deal will be done soon.
A few days ago, David Ornstein of The Athletic reported that the Blues are looking at Badiashile, and other defenders namely Evan Ndicka and Piero Hincapie as possible alternatives if the signing of Josko Gvardiol does not become possible.
The latest on the Gvardiol link is that RB Leipzig have increased the price tag up to more than €90m. Real Madrid and Manchester City are still in the race.
Keeping that in mind and seeing how Chelsea are progressing in their bid to sign Badiashile, it seems like the Monaco defender is coming to Stamford Bridge next month.
The 21-year-old French defender is a left-footed centre-back with a similar profile to Gvardiol in terms of great reading of the game, excellent passing and not shirking away from physical battles.
Badiashile is a Monaco player since his youth days, graduating to the senior team in 2018 at the age of 17. He has been one of the better young defenders in the European circuit.
Chelsea could do with a young addition to their squad in the centre-back department. Out of the current options – Thiago Silva is 38 now, and he hasn’t signed a contract to extend his stay at Stamford Bridge beyond this season yet.
Cesar Azpilicueta is 33 and is not getting younger, while Kalidou Koulibaly is still 31 but has struggled to settle in the Premier League so far.
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Adding Badiashile would decrease the average age of the centre-back options and increase the quality and longevity of a player in that department.