Chelsea have reportedly been named a hefty price for their defensive target Lewis Dunk, with Brighton placing a £50 million price tag on the English centre-back.
Lewis Dunk is on the Chelsea radar. But, the Blues will have to stump up £50 million if they are to land the Brighton star in January, The Sun claim. According to the report, Dunk’s parent club have placed the hefty price tag and Chelsea will have to pay the entire amount to facilitate a January move.
Lewis Dunk has been rumoured to be heading towards the exit door since the summer transfer window, when he was touted as a potential replacement for Harry Maguire at Leicester City. But, the Foxes refused to bow down and meet the price tag placed by Brighton.
Dunk has since played 20 times for Brighton in the Premier League. While the 28-year-old has been astute defensively, his attacking numbers are also an attractive read, with 2 goals and 3 assists to his name. His goals have come against Manchester United and Liverpool, thus showing his big game mentality.
Chelsea have flourished under Frank Lampard, albeit only in attack. While we have also witnessed the rise of Fikayo Tomori and Reece James in their defence, the alarming rate of errors from the back four and the lack of continuity and solidity at the back has seen Chelsea surrender to many-a teams in the recent weeks.
Andreas Christensen has been rumoured to be the centre-back that could be on his way out, with Antonio Rudiger and Kurt Zouma preferred over the towering Dane. Chelsea are also looking to bring in someone at left-back. But, for now, putting Reece James on the right and shifting Cesar Azpilicueta to the left has done the trick for Frank Lampard.
Hence, a centre-back seems to be the priority in defence for Chelsea, especially with the Premier League giants competing in the Champions League and the FA Cup along with the Premier League. Lampard would love to mark the first year of his managerial stint at Chelsea with a trophy, which heightens the need for defensive reinforcements.
Brighton don’t seem like they would be willing to budge from their £50 million price tag, having not done so during Leicester’s chase of the defender in the summer. The only way Chelsea are going to get Dunk is if the Blues put up the cash and it would be interesting to see whether Frank Lampard deems Dunk enough of a necessity to give the go ahead.
