According to the latest reports, Chelsea are leading the race for Leicester City’s Ben Chilwell.
It is hard to ignore the England international’s excellent run of form since last season who seems to have cemented a starting spot under Gareth Southgate.
Previous reports claimed Manchester City were also monitoring the 22-year-old due to Benjamin Mendy’s prolonged injury absences. However, Pep Guardiola addressed the issues this summer by signing Oleksandr Zinchenko to a contract extension and recalling Angelino from PSV Eindhoven.
The English champions will be looking to fix their centre-back spots in the upcoming transfer windows with Aymeric Laporte out injured.
Chelsea, on the other hand, have room for improvement on the left flank. Emerson Palmieri has emerged as a dependable figure in the position but his backup, Marcos Alonso has not.
The latter have put up decent displays recently but his defensive deficiencies still makes him a hard liability at the back. Chilwell would be a definite upgrade, both in terms of pace and youthful resilience.
The only factor hindering Chelsea’s prospects of signing him is the potential price tag. Leicester held out for £80m for Harry Maguire this summer and was willing to wait for more.
In the current market scenario where English players are being sold for five times the value of other foreign players, there is no telling how much Chilwell could cost. It could very well be higher than Maguire’s, given his age and potential.
