Chelsea & Napoli Reach Agreement For Out-Of-Favour Benoit Badiashile - Transfer Details Confirmed | OneFootball

It's a busy window for Chelsea as the Blues look to trim their squad. Video Credit: Absolute Chelsea

Chelsea and Napoli have agreed to an initial loan deal for centre-back Benoit Badiashile, with an option to buy.

Badiashile is certainly a surplus to requirements at Chelsea. The club’s decision to leave him, alongside Axel Disasi and Marc Guiu, out of the pre-season tour in Australia and Asia virtually confirmed it.

Ideally, Chelsea will want to sell the centre-back permanently this summer. But with Badiashile under contract until June 2030,  there remains room for a loan exit with an obligation or an option to buy.

This is exactly the deal Napoli proposed to Chelsea. According to Sky Sports, the Italian club were initially prepared to pay £2.6 million (€3m) in loan fees, but there was quite a difference between the two clubs’ valuations of the player.

Napoli are said to value Badiashile at £17m (€20m), while Chelsea were demanding £30m.

In the end, the two clubs reached a compromise and agreed to a £23.1m option to buy, as reported by Nizaar Kinsella.

Napoli are also adding an extra £850,000 bonus on top of the £2.6m loan fee they pay for the defender.

Badiashile is just one of the 12 first-team Chelsea players who could still leave this summer as the club continues to trim the squad.

The 25-year-old made just 25 appearances across all competitions last season, only eight of which were in the Premier League. He last featured in Chelsea’s FA Cup extra-time win over Wrexham in March.

Badiashile joined Chelsea back in January 2023 from AS Monaco in a deal worth £35m.

Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso previously said he wants “four to five” centre-backs in his squad this season, and as it stands, he has nine.

Like Badiashile, Disasi is also expected to leave the club, preferably on a permanent deal.

The younger Mamadou Sarr and Aaron Anselmino, on the other hand, could depart on loan.

Trevoh Chalobah left the club earlier this week to join Italian side Como.

These potential exits would leave Alonso with Levi Colwill, Wesley Fofana, Josh Acheampong, Tosin Adarabioyo and summer signing Maxence Lacroix as his five centre-back options.

Additionally, Jorrel Hato and Reece James could also play as centre-backs in a back-three formation.

That said, Tosin has also attracted interest from Portuguese club Benfica and another Premier League club, which could alter the club’s plans.

The Premier League summer transfer window will close on Tuesday, September 1, but Chelsea officially start their season on August 24 with an away trip to Fulham.