West Ham United and Crystal Palace will reportedly have to battle it out with Everton for the signing of Chelsea defender Trevoh Chalobah this summer.
According to Football Insider, Chelsea are ready to sell fringe centre-back Trevoh Chalobah this summer, with English trio West Ham, Crystal Palace, and Everton taking a keen interest in his services.
This comes after TeamTalk reported yesterday that the Blues have told Chalobah that he is free to leave the club after Mauricio Pochettino decided to sign France international Axel Disasi from AS Monaco instead of trusting the academy graduate as a backup option at the back following the ACL injury to Wesley Fofana.
Disasi’s arrival means Chalobah’s chances of securing regular game time in west London will be further limited. Pochettino usually prefers a four-man backline, and Benoit Badiashile, Thiago Silva, and Levi Colwill are all believed to be ahead of him in the pecking order.
Although Chalobah has been really consistent for the first team since coming through the academy a couple of years ago, and barely put a foot wrong during pre-season, his path into the Blues starting line-up is seemingly blocked right now.
At 24 years old, it feels like the Englishman is at a stage in his career where he needs to play regularly, especially if he’s got aspirations of breaking into Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions setup ahead of the European championships next year. The Englishman is now attracting interest from Premier League sides Everton, Crystal Palace, and West Ham United.
The Hammers, for one, are looking to finally kickstart their summer transfer window after a brief pause in activity following Declan Rice’s £105 million sale to Arsenal. It’s hardly surprising to see West Ham scouring the market for defenders, with Kurt Zouma injury prone, and Angelo Ogbonna now 35 years old.
They have some decent defenders, but they can definitely make do with some more strength in depth in the back line. With the club also in the Europa League next season, they need to make sure that they have a squad that are able to handle heavy fixture congestion.
Everton are also keen. However, Chelsea’s £45 million asking price will surely come as a setback to their hopes of landing the defender for a reasonable price.
Yerry Mina and Conor Coady are no longer at Everton, while Mason Holgate has been put up for sale by the Goodison Park outfit. Jarrad Branthwaite has returned from a fruitful spell at PSV, but Sean Dyche may need another defender to compete alongside James Tarkowski, Michael Keane, and Ben Godfrey in the defensive department.
Chalobah would be a great addition to Dyche’s ranks at Goodson Park, but there is little chance for Everton to win this race due to their FFP constraints. The same goes for Crystal Palace, whose pursuit of Chalobah hinges on the futures of transfer-linked formidable centre-back pairing Marc Guehi and Joachim Andersen.
There is no shortage of suitors abroad for the 24-year-old, either. Inter Milan hold a long-term interest in the versatile defender, whom they view as an ideal replacement for the departed Milan Skriniar. Monaco, Lyon, Wolfsburg, Borussia Dortmund, Roma, and Napoli are all monitoring his situation.
