Chelsea are about to sign defender Benoit Badiashile from Monaco, according to Ben Jacobs in his debut article for Si & Dan Talk Chelsea this week.
Jacobs covered a lot in his deep dive on transfer news and many other general Chelsea situations, and you can read the full article here:
EXCLUDES: @JacobsBen for @SiandDanTalkCFC
Chelsea column debut!
Updates on Enzo, Rice, Félix, Caicedo, Zaha, Vlahovic, Pulisic, Kante, Jorginho and much more.https://t.co/EPv62dDwPG
— Si & Dan Talk Chelsea (@SiandDanTalkCFC) January 2,
But there was a key section in there regarding Levi Colwill, and it sounds very promising from Chelsea’s point of view. Many people wonder why Chelsea sign Badiashile because he is a left-footed young center back, with the same profile as Colwill. However, I really believe that both are needed at Chelsea in the future.
Jacobs explains that Chelsea still plans a lot for a future with Colwill in the team, saying that Chelsea knows they have great talent in Colwill.
“Levi Colwill remains part of Chelsea’s long-term plans so they would only allow a loan to Brighton over the summer,” Jacobs wrote. “It’s been a difficult season at Brighton and they’ve only played five Premier League games. But anyone I talk to at Chelsea is always quick to underline the high potential in him. Chelsea know that he has great talent.”
And as I said earlier, I really think we’ll need both of them in the future. Thiago Silva is close to 40 years old and his contract expired this summer. Kalidou Koulibaly is in his early 30s and does not fill me with confidence. Trevoh Chalobah is decent, but is currently being kept out by Koulibaly and won’t be happy being a bench player. Wesley Fofana has already proven to be injury-prone early on, and apart from that, pure centre-back options are in short supply at the club.
Personally I see Colwill replacing Silva, because his profile is much more similar to Badiashile’s. I think he could easily sit in the middle of a three-man defense if we lined up like this, or right-center or left-center in a four. Both he and Badiashile could have a future in the same Chelsea defence, for sure.
Chelsea need to manage Colwill right now and make sure they chart a path to our first team, because this guy is the real deal.
