There was a time when Manchester United were actively pursuing Benoit Badiashile, currently at AS Monaco.
The young defender has attracted a lot of interest with his performances and development over the years at the principality club, with Chelsea now also keen.
Having signed Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli, the Blues don’t need a centre-back as badly as they once did, but with two of their starters leaving on frees, they could certainly do with an extra body in there.
Following the departure on loan to AS Monaco of Malang Sarr, the two clubs could end up talking about Badiashile as well, which is what L’Equipe hint at on Thursday.
The newspaper explain that following Monaco’s failure to qualify for the Champions League after being knocked out of the qualifiers by PSV Eindhoven, the centre-back could consider the team ‘suddenly less attractive’.
While he doesn’t want to leave Monaco ‘at all costs’, not playing in Europe’s elite competition ‘could incite him to listen to interests from clubs that follow him closely (Chelsea and Sevilla) with a more attentive ear’.
First, though, such clubs would need to make an offer that ‘suits’ AS Monaco, which has yet to take place.
Chelsea certainly have the money, but we’ll have to see if they decide to gamble on a 21-year-old to bolster their backline or continue in the same vein as they did with Koulibaly, which was to privilege experience.
