Chelsea will have to sell multiple defenders to afford premium addition next summer | OneFootball

With the international break upon us, there is some inevitable chat about transfers despite January still being a few months away.

CaughtOffside report that the Blues are still looking to buy a premium, top tier, elite central defender to take this team to the next level, and are considering Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo as potentially that man.

Still just 26, Araujo has been a regular since his teenage years for the Catalan giants. He’s also an experienced Uruguay international with buckets of caps. A nice balance of physical and technical ability, one can see why he’s so tempting for Premier League sides.

Chelsea attempts to buy premium defender still look unrealistic

Ronald Araujo in action for Barcelona.

We’ve hear so many times about this interest, but nothing ever seems to come of it. We don’t expect that to change now. Barcelona are always willing to consider a sale because of their financial situation, and Chelsea are always on the lookout for undervalued talent in the market.

But the price they would ask and the price we’re willing to pay are probably still just too far apart. Until he’s into the final year of his contract, Barca are going to be asking a lot, and our model doesn’t really allow for that.

If we sell a couple of defenders next summer, that could change – but until then, we don’t see a deal happening here.

In other news…

The international break has seen striker Marc Guiu talking about his departure from Barcelona, and it seems that Chelsea really dodged a bullet by snapping him up rather than the more expensive option who had replaced him in Barcelona.

Chelsea’s stats from the season aren’t too pleasant so far – their xG is falling and there’s not an obvious solution to the problem until Liam Delap is back.