Who could/should Chelsea sign at centre back?

It's not a debate anymore. Signing a CB in January is a necessity

So we’ve now had it confirmed centre-back Wesley Fofana is out for the season, again. You can’t help but feel sorry for him. He’s a top defender with a great attitude, who loves Chelsea and wants to do well, and it must be so frustrating for him to be constantly injured.

Fellow centre-back Benoit Badiashile is also out, until February at least. This leaves us with Levi Colwill, Tosin Adarabioyo, Axel Disasi and Josh Acheampong, and Aaron Anselmino (if he can get a work permit) as our current CB options for the next two months at least, if we don’t sign a CB.

This isn’t good enough for a club like Chelsea, and as Simon reported in his article today, its unacceptable not to address this area now, if we want top 4 and Champions League this season, which we clearly do.

We have a lot of attacking options and will score enough goals to win games, but we desperately need a CB this window.

Trevoh Chalobah could be recalled from Crystal Palace according to the terms of his loan, but although he would do a good job if he came back, I think the long term need to sign a CB is more important. On top of that, it’s clear he has no long term future at Chelsea and he is doing well on loan. I respect him a lot for still being willing to come back after how he was treated, he clearly still loves Chelsea. However, to me recalling him is a fallback option if we can’t get a new signing over the line.

We need to sign a CB this window in my view, and I personally believe we need a player with leadership qualities, who is proven ideally at PL level, and can come in and do well quickly. We need leadership at the back urgently.

So the question is, WHO can we sign at CB realistically?

There’s a lot of great options.

Marc Guehi of Crystal Palace is PL proven, a leader and can play RCB or LCB, and has been reported as on the shortlist. Illia Zabarnyi and Dean Huijsen of Bournemouth have been excellent this season and have been linked to Chelsea. Fikayo Tomori primarily plays RCB but can also play LCB, and is allegedly available.

We’ve long admired Tomas Araujo from Benfica and Ousmane Diomande from Sporting, so those could be on our list too. Those two would probably be my own second or third choices for us to sign, both are quality players, and I rate them highly.

The owners and sporting directors can’t say to us they have ambition then deny their head coach a key player in his squad at such a crucial moment in the season, in my view.

I’m not wedded to any one name, there are many good options available, as we’ve seen.

However, I’ve said before, I think Marc Guehi would be a smart choice. He’s been linked to us by Fabrizio and Simon, so he is clearly on our radar.

He’s not the most talented of those linked to us, or names above, and by no means does it “have” to be him. I’m open to other names too, but he has many qualities we need in my view.

He is PL proven, internationally proven, has leadership qualities, captaincy experience, is vocal, can play RCB or LCB, a good injury record and Chelsea DNA. We also have a sell-on clause with him which means we could get him cheaper than other clubs, and he’d walk straight into our starting XI. We also have Trev as a bargaining chip, and could do a permanent deal for him to Crystal Palace as part of the Guehi deal.

Even if people don’t want Guehi, there’s clearly plenty of options available for us, and I know our scouting network is strong and Si has reported how we’ve been tracking CB’s, so there’s no excuse not to make a move for one this window. I’m pretty sure Enzo Maresca will be wanting one in January as well, despite whatever briefs or quotes we get to the opposite.

So what of the CBs we currently have?

Well, the likes of Axel Disasi and Benoit Badiashile are great professionals who’ve had good games for us. But for a team competing in Maresca’s system for PL titles, they’re not quite the level, especially Axel Disasi. They aren’t good enough to be first choice starters, and Disasi hasn’t even performed as a backup. So we can’t go on with them till the summer with Wes out.

Tosin Adarabioyo is a solid PL performer, and excellent squad player with leadership skills, and he’s been pretty good for us in the last month, but again, he’s not quite at the level to be starting regularly for a top 4 or title challenging team. I’d keep him for sure, he’s been a very smart signing who has done relatively well, but we need better quality in that position.

Josh Acheampong has huge talent, and I’d definitely pick him over Axel Disasi for now, but it's a big ask demanding he play regularly in Fofana’s absence, and Maresca will ease him in, he won’t put that pressure on him. Aaron Anselmino is the same, and doesn’t currently have a work permit anyway.

Which brings me back to who we should target this window. I’m open to all the names I listed above, but as I’ve said, I feel a slight pull towards Marc Guehi, and one big reason is the intangibles he brings which we currently lack.

Josh Acheampong, Aaron Anselmino and even Levi Colwill need, in my view, a slightly older, wiser head in the squad with the quality to start regularly, who has leadership qualities, PL experience and organisational skills. Marc Guehi possesses all of these, and Chelsea DNA as well. He knows the club, the expectations, the pressure of being a Chelsea player. He’d step in and be an instant leader for our defence and our team.

I’ve been saying for years we need to sign more proven players with good experience, and I’m saying it again. Its plain ignorance and negligence to not see this need at this point, and to me it should be obvious to anyone who understands football and squad building.

The sporting directors have made a lot of good decisions, good signings, and rightly got a fair bit of praise recently, including from me. They absolutely deserve some credit for how we’re doing. But this is an area they need to drop their egos, admit their mistakes, and get in a CB or two of the requisite quality (and a goalkeeper too, in my view!).

If it’s not addressed in January, it could potentially cost Chelsea a lot come the end of the season and I personally will blame the sporting directors, not Maresca, if our lack of CB options costs us CL football. Maresca has shown his quality as a coach and tactician, so let’s give him the tools he needs and asks for to do the job.

There’s no debate for me, it's not rocket science. The decision we need is obvious, and it needs to be made urgently. Sign a new CB in January to ensure we get CL football this season.

The Score