Chelsea ‘working’ to sign Benoît Badiashile from AS Monaco in January — report

According to The Athletic’s David Ornstein, Chelsea are “working to sign a new left-sided centre-back” in January, and the leading candidate is AS Monaco’s Benoît Badiashile. And while “there is no agreement” in place just yet, “multiple sources believe he will join in the weeks ahead for around €35 million” (£30m) — whoever these multiple sources may be.

Badiashile was first linked in the summer, when Chelsea were said to keeping an eye on the 21-year-old big man, who’s since made his international debut with France as well. As noted at the time, he has plenty of senior professional experience despite his young age, having been a key player for Monaco for the past 2-3 seasons and amassing over 130 senior appearances already.

Given the outsized transfer fee, Badiashile would surely join the first-team immediately, reinforcing our defense presumably for years to come. The Athletic’s report notes that we’re also looking at Eintracht Frankfurt’s Evan Ndicka, 23 and Bayer Leverkusen’s Piero Hincapié, 20, especially now that we might have gotten priced out on Joško Gvardiol. But Badiashile is the priority.