Chelsea target homegrown talent in search for John Terry replacement

According to the Daily Mail, Chelsea and their manager Antonio Conte have listed Burnley’s Michael Keane and Middlesbrough’s Ben Gibson as potential replacements for the aging John Terry. The Mail reports that we are looking to "maintain the English influence at the heart of [our] defence", whilst also looking to comply with Premier League squad rules regarding homegrown talent.

The 23-year-old Keane is a youth product from Manchester United's academy. He arrived at Burnley on a loan deal in 2014, and made his transfer permanent in the following year. Since then, he's collected 61 appearances for the club.

Gibson, who's also 23, has been a Middlesbrough player throughout his career. He's had loan spell at Plymouth Argyle, York City and Tranmere Rovers before being fully integrated into Boro's first team squad in 2013.

It's understandable that Chelsea might be looking to keep some of its English core at our back line, but neither Keane nor Gibson seem to be names fit to substitute a club legend. As for the homegrown quota, names such as Fiyako Tomori, Ola Aina and Andreas Christensen would love to fill that gap if needed. Plus, they wouldn't cost any extra pennies to do so.