Chelsea may have scuppered their own efforts to sign Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi by recalling Trevoh Chalobah from his loan at Selhurst Park.
The Blues are in need of more defenders after losing Wesley Fofana and Benoit Badiashile to injury, with Chalobah’s recall an indication of how desperate their situation is.
Guehi is a name that Chelsea have been linked with after initially selling him to Palace for around £18million and became their No 1 defensive target in January.
Talks have reportedly already begun between the two camps, and with Guehi’s contract only having 18 months left to run Palace might have to consider an exit soon.
But Chelsea might have difficulties signing Guehi in this window after causing complications in the deal by bringing back Chalobah.
According to the Daily Mail, Palace are not planning on signing another centre-back this month – and therefore it would not be in their interests to lose Guehi as well as Chalobah.
The report claims the player is now likely to stay at Selhurst Park, with Palace happy with their current centre-back options of Guehi, Maxence Lacroix, Chadi Riad and Chris Richards.
It goes on to say that Chelsea remain interested in Guehi and that a move is still theoretically possible, but that it would take an “unexpected turn of events” to see him re-sign for his boyhood club.
Recent games have seen Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca play Josh Acheampong as a make-shift centre-back this season and the Italian refused to rule out the chance of defensive reinforcements this month.
Speaking earlier this month after Acheampong impressed against Palace in a 1-1 draw, he said: “Even if we don’t decide to buy players or sell players because Josh has shown he is good, we already knew Josh was good enough. Probably with Wes and Benoit injuries, we will see if something is going to happen [in the transfer market].”
Acheampong played his second straight game in the 2-2 draw against Bournemouth, lining up alongside Levi Colwill and keeping Axel Disasi on the bench.
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