Chelsea have done all they can to get rid of Ben Chilwell.
They left him out of training, left him out of matchday squads in the Premier League, and have now left him off their UEFA list for the Conference League.
There’s not much more they can do to make him feel unwelcome, and we’re sure he’s got the message. But until someone offers for him they can’t shift him, and that’s not happened so far.
With almost every European transfer window now closed, the left back’s last hope is a move to Turkey, where the window remains open until the 13th of September. But so far, so bad on that front.
Turkish teams stay shy on Chilwell
TeamTalk today claim that three of the biggest sides in Turkey have been offered Chilwell – and all have declined. Fenerbahce, Galatasaray and Istanbul Basaksehir have all been made aware of the terms it would take to bring in the England left back, but there has been “no response,” which isn’t a good sign.
At the moment it looks a lot like the former Leicester player will end up training with the “bomb squad” from now until January, which is a chilling thought and a total waste of his skills.
Hopefully these Turkish teams are just playing hard ball and making it clear that they know very well how much pressure Chelsea are under to move him on. It doesn’t make sense for anyone to have Chilwell, who was signed for £50m back in 2020, doing nothing for a few months.
But if he and Chelsea don’t make their demands extremely appealing, that might be just what happens.
Equally, it feels like it would take just one injury to our other options at left back for Chilwell to get a chance to play again.