Chelsea are ‘close to completing’ a deal for Monaco defender Benoit Badiashile, beating both Manchester United and Barcelona to his signature.
That’s according to L’Equipe, who say the Blues ‘have the player’s preference’ and are at the front of the queue for his signature.
They report that Chelsea have offered €35m to Monaco for the defender, but the Ligue 1 side are holding out for €40m.
At the moment they are at the front of the queue, though, as Barcelona are only considering a move for the player in the summer and United are in the background.
The defender’s potential departure is now considered the ‘hot issue’ at the club, with the Blues continuing to push and believed to be ‘close’ to an agreement.
Badiashile is not the only Ligue 1 talent that Chelsea have their eye on, though, with Lyon defender Castello Lukeba also someone they are keen on.
L’Equipe explain that Chelsea were chasing the youngster in the summer, even going as far as to make a €43m offer for him.
That was rejected by Lyon as they want to keep Lukeba in the side for the foreseeable future and are even looking for an ‘ideal complement’ to him so they can build their defence and team around the 20-year-old.
Rejecting Chelsea’s bid was seen as a sign of that intent and their refusal to sell appears to have instead pushed the Premier League side into targeting Badiashile instead.
