Latest Chelsea target could cost €30m or more to fix remaining gap in Blues team

If there’s one thing that we’re convinced by from recent reports, it’s that Chelsea want a central defender.

The Blues are being linked with a lot of players at the moment, but there’s nowhere in the team we’re seeing more reports related to that the heart of our defence. Fabrizio Romano said yesterday that we’re “actively” monitoring the market for centre backs.

Whether that’s Castello Lukeba, Ousmane Diomande or Lucas Beraldo, there’s clearly a feeling (at least in the media, if not at the club itself too) that there’s still space for a world class option at the back.

So when we heard that Tomas Araujo could be on the market this summer, we were just counting down until the Blues were linked. The 22 year old Benfica defender is bubbling up as one of Europe’s top player in his age bracket in that position, and today Portuguese paper O Jogo has thrown Chelsea’s hat into the ring.

Rated at €15m by TransferMarkt, we’d expect Araujo to fetch 2 or 3 times that on the open market.

Araujo the perfect profile – but existing options have time to shine

Newcastle are another side mentioned, although they have shown themselves to be pretty frugal despite new ownership, and we suspect we can beat them to the punch if Araujo is a player we really like.

We don’t expect a January move, as our need isn’t that desperate. So ultimately it will come down to what happens in the rest of this season with our current options. Benoit Badiashile, Axel Disasi and Tosin Adarabioyo will all get plenty of chances to prove themselves – but if they don’t raise their game, expect at least one to be sold and someone with a profile like Araujo’s to come in.