Chelsea were in desperate need of signing new central defenders in the summer transfer window after both Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen left on free transfers. Thiago Silva and Trevoh Chalobah were left as the only senior natural options at the club ahead of the 2022/23 season, but they were soon joined by Kalidou Koulibaly and Wesley Fofana, with Marc Cucurella, a versatile left back, in a £165million spending spree.
For a variety of reasons the summer trio have struggled to make a significant impact at Stamford Bridge. For Fofana, injuries have plagued his first five months in west London, while a number of disappointing performances have seen Koulibaly and Cucurella face criticism.
Benoit Badiashile then joined in January to help solidify the Chelsea defence under Graham Potter. Following his inclusion in the starting XI, alongside Silva, the Blues were able to keep three consecutive clean sheets.
Three natural options for the centre of defence does leave Chelsea one-up on players from where they were at this point last season, however contract extension issues are still prominent now. Jorginho and N'Golo Kante both saw their current deals expire at the end of the season. However, a deal was agreed in January which saw Jorginho join Arsenal for £10million while Chelsea are now very confident Kante will sign a new contract, football.london understands.
The Blues were unable to resolve the contract situations facing Rudiger and Christensen last year though after sanctions put on the club during the final months of Roman Abramovich’s tenure saw them unable to negotiate new deals for the defensive duo.
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