Advantage Chelsea over Manchester City for Ben Chilwell thanks to UEFA and CAS — report

Alongside Chelsea, Manchester City are one of the clubs reportedly interested in Leicester City’s Ben Chilwell.

However, as things stand, City are ineligible to play in the Champions League due to their two-year ban from all UEFA competitions over their failure to comply with Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules. While their appeal to CAS is expected to be heard in the coming days, this does place them at a disadvantage in the transfer market, including in their potential pursuit of Chilwell.

According to the Evening Standard, the verdict of the appeal, whatever it might be, is not even expected until August. That’s almost two months away, which should give Chelsea plenty of time to make inroads for the Leicester City left back. Given the pace at which Chelsea can operate, that’s more than enough time!

In addition to this, and as unbelievable as this may sound, Manchester City are in a worse financial position than Chelsea. The Blues have money to burn after selling Eden Hazard and Álvaro Morata in the past twelve months, while also not having to deal with FFP transgressions. Meanwhile, City will have everybody scrutinizing them more than before.

So, in theory, Chelsea do have a big advantage, should we choose to pursue Chilwell — though that’s not necessarily given despite all the recent reports if Leicester continue to stand firm on their £60m asking price.