Chelsea centre back rumors: Ibrahima Konaté, David Alaba, Niklas Süle, Thiago Silva latest

Ed.note: Silly Season never sleeps, so here are a few center back rumors from the week that was, from someone who doesn’t get tired of all this nonsense ever.

IBRAHIMA KONATÉ

RB Leipzig’s Ibrahima Konaté has emerged as a potential target for Chelsea to reinforce the backline in the summer, but the Blues will face competition from the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United, and, according to the Evening Standard, Arsenal as well.

Gunners’ boss Mikel Arteta is apparently keen on signing the 21-year-old, having offloaded Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis Papastathopoulos in January, while David Luiz’s contract expires in the summer and Calum Chambers is likely to move on elsewhere as well.

Konaté reportedly has a €45m release clause, so Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea could certainly make a play and provide a more enticing destination than 10th-place Arsenal.

DAVID ALABA

One player who’s become a lot less likely to join Chelsea is David Alaba, with PSG emerging as the only club truly willing to fulfill his sporting as well as financial desires.

According to SportBild (via Sport Witness), Chelsea are holding back on a move for the 28-year-old as we are unsure about the finances involved in the deal. Even Real Madrid are seemingly backing off the deal, unable to appease his demands, with the defender now said to be torn between going for his dream move to Spain or getting his salary expectations met with a move to PSG.

NIKLAS SULE

With Chelsea reportedly monitoring with great interest, Süle’s trying to leverage the situation into not only a new contract at Bayern but a pay rise as well.

The 25-year-old’s current deal expires in 2022, but with Dayot Upamecano arriving, his position at the club isn’t as strong as before. So, according to Sport1, he wants a bit of financial reassurance, though that’s something Bayern will not be very comfortable with at the moment.

And that could prove advantageous for Chelsea, especially if Bayern were willing to do business at around €25m or so.

THIAGO SILVA

Meanwhile, Süle or any other centre back arriving will apparently have no bearing on Thiago Silva’s future.

According to Fabrizio Romano (writing for CBS Sports), Silva is set to hold talks with Chelsea in the near future, or perhaps as we speak already, with the club hoping to trigger the one-year extension option in his contract. With the player and his family well-settled in London, as well as the club and the manager happy with his services, it is expected that a (positive) resolution will be reached quickly.

Good.

Thiago’s wife, Belle Silva’s recent post on social media has only added further fuel to this notion, as she was speaking already as if Thiago’s set to stay for a second year at Chelsea.

(And that we will be champions!)