Sunday, January 1, 2023 at 1:10 PM• Rian Rosendaal

Benoît Badiashile continues his career at Chelsea. According to The Athletic the London club has reached an agreement with AS Monaco about the arrival of the 21-year-old centre-back. Chelsea pays 37 or 38 million euros for Badiashile, who was stuck with the Ligue 1 club for another year and a half. Only the medical examination at Stamford Bridge can still cause problems.

The Athletic announced shortly before the holidays that Chelsea were looking for a left-footed defender and that Badiashile had been bombed as a top candidate. The leadership of the Blues has been looking for a left leg since last summer, partly due to the injury sensitivity of Ben Chilwell. A personal agreement has already been reached with the Croatian World Cup sensation Josko Gvardiol, but a deal with his employer RB Leipzig has not been reached. This shifted attention to the still young Badiashile.

Chelsea has the desired left-footed defender in Benoît Badiashile.

In addition to Badiashile, Chelsea had a few more names in their sights. For example, scouts also looked at the performances of Evan N’Dicka (Eintracht Frankfurt) and Piero Hincapie (Bayer Leverkusen). However, manager Graham Potter, who will play with Chelsea against Nottingham Forest on Sunday, is targeting Badiashile. Should the medical check-up be successfully passed, the 1.94 meter tall defender will sign a multi-year contract in West London.

Badiashile went through the Monaco youth academy, where he made his debut in 2018. There are now 135 games behind his name. The French national coach Didier Deschamps made his debut in September in the Nations League in a 2-0 win at home against France. Three days later, Badiashile completed another ninety minutes in the shirt of the vice world champion. However, he could not prevent a 2-0 loss to Denmark.

It is the fourth time in a short time that Chelsea has spent a lot of money on a defender. Last summer, Kalidou Koulibaly, Wesley Fofana and Marc Cucurella were already brought to Stamford Bridge for a total amount of around € 185 million to give Chelsea’s defense a boost. boost to give. However, Potter was not completely satisfied and wants to finalize the renovation of the defense with the arrival of the left-footed Badiashile.