Chelsea ‘frontrunners’ for Leicester City left back Ben Chilwell — report

With full backs and wing backs becoming ever more important positions in the modern game, both in attack and defense, it’s perhaps unsurprising that there is a “chase” for Leicester City’s Ben Chilwell, who’s generally recognized as one of the best left backs in the Premier League. He might even be the best (or at least most valuable) left back since he’s just 22 years old and has over four years left on his contract.

There are no prizes for guessing which teams are in said “chase”, especially considering that only Liverpool get to call on Andy Robertson. What may be surprising is that Chelsea apparently lead the chase, despite our current transfer ban, despite Manchester City unable to get Benjamin Mendy injury free for more than two seconds, despite Manchester United being ever more hilarious, and despite Leicester City having absolutely no reason to sell as they make their own push for the top four.

But the Daily Mail are undeterred and position us as the “frontrunners”, even speculating over a January move if CAS were so kind as to remove the second half of our FIFA-imposed transfer ban. So we’ve got that going for us, which might be nice.

Chelsea’s own left back situation isn’t too ideal. Marcos Alonso and Emerson are both flawed in significant ways, especially as full backs rather than wing backs, and Jay Dasilva’s now gone permanently Bristol City. Ian Maatsen, all of 17, is next in line, and while we may be having a youth revolution, and it’s certainly being televised, some restraint is advisable.

Chelsea certainly have plenty of cash, and hopefully the proper thinking behind the scenes now to spend that wisely, surgically, and impactfully (rather than with the scattergun approach of the past however many years).