Chelsea’s squad is constantly in flux at the moment – the stream of arrivals means players have to leave to make space.
One player who has links to other teams growing in intensity is Benoit Badiashile. The defender has today been linked with Juventus by CalcioMercato. They say that new manager Enzo Maresca has watched all the footage of his new group and has decided that the Frenchman isn’t up to his standards already.
Juventus have missed out on a few defensive targets this summer – including Riccardo Calafiori who is on his way to Arsenal – and interest in 23 year old Badiashile does actually make sense. They’ve apparently followed Badiashile since his Monaco days, and now see their chance to get him. They’re pretty careful with their cash – but a loan with option to buy always seems to go down well with Italian sides.
Chelsea ready to cut their losses
We’re not particularly convinced by any specific links to Badiashile like this one. But we do probably believe that the club would consider selling him at the right price.
Well, they’d consider selling anyone at the right price, it’s just that in this case the price is low enough to make a deal feasible. The Frenchman has had a fairly disrupted 18 months at Chelsea thanks to injuries, but it feels like the sporting directors have seen enough to know his limits, and know that a decent offer creates space and cash for potentially better players.
We paid around €38m for him, and if we were offered, say €35m, we think the club would accept it and move on to try and find someone better. He’s shown talent and flashes of the ability that led us to sign him, but 18 months in we’ve yet to see him play consistently at a level that would convince us to keep him at all costs.