Chelsea are getting their squad together for next season, and an unlikely option has emerged at left back.
If you enjoy Talk Chelsea coverage and want to see more of it, add us as a preferred source on Google to make us a favourite and see more of our content.
Things are moving pretty quickly on the transfer front at Chelsea right now, and it was a good moment for a round-up from Nizaar Kinsella at the BBC.
He gave his backing to the really surprising links over the weekend to Rayo Vallecano left back Pep Chavarria. Kinsella did not rule it out at all – in fact he confirmed that Chelsea are “monitoring” the 28 year old. However, he made it clear that Jorrel Hato is going to be the man stepping up to replace Marc Cucurella, and any new signings would just be in addition to that.
Chelsea will target Hato backup, not Cucurella replacement
“[The first team left back] role is expected to be filled internally, with Jorrel Hato set to play a significant part under new manager Xabi Alonso next season,” Kinsella wrote.
“Chavarria would offer a more attacking option, particularly if Alonso opts to use wing-backs, as he did during his time at Bayer Leverkusen.”
Whether it’s Chavarria or not, it sounds like a cheap backup option will be targeted, but it’s also clear that Hato is the first choice now.
In other news…
Granit Xhaka has been dominating the Chelsea transfer news in the last 48 hours – but the main target of last week was a defender.
Chelsea’s £8m offer for a new midfielder has been rejected – now we’re all waiting to see what the Blues do next.
DOWNLOAD THE OFFICIAL TALK CHELSEA APP FOR ALL THE LATEST UPDATES – STRAIGHT TO YOUR PHONE! ON THE APP STORE
