Defender bargain could be so tempting that Chelsea could tear up rules and sign 31 year old | OneFootball

With Liam Delap signed up top and seemingly deals progressing for Mike Maignan in goal and Jamie Gittens on the left wing, Chelsea are making short work of their summer shopping list.

There’s only one “priority position” which the briefs told us the Blues were looking to strengthen which doesn’t yet have a deal in the works: centre back.

Older defenders seem to be back on the menu – including Laporte

Aymeric Laporte in action for Al Nassr. (Photo by Abdullah Ahmed/Getty Images)

That doesn’t mean there aren’t rumours or deals in the works, however. Dean Huijsen has headed to Real Madrid, but others are still on the list. There’s also an increasing feeling that those in charge are willing to at least consider older players, breaking the pattern of signing under 23s we’ve seen dominate in recent years.

Kim Min-Jae of Bayern Munich is 28 and has just been linked today, and he’s not the only one. An even more experienced option in the form of former Man City centre back Aymeric Laporte has been mentioned as interesting Chelsea by sources in Spain, translated here by Football Espana.

How Chelsea squeeze 30 year olds into their transfer strategy

While the plan is still to sign young players with good resale value, they can make exceptions for bargains, and Laporte could be one of them. With just a year left on his contract, there’s a suggestion that his Saudi club Al Nassr could accept just €10-15m for him.

When you consider that’s about half of what we spent on the likes of Omari Kellyman from Aston Villa, we’d be crazy to worry about the money when we could potentially sign up a really experienced, dominant defender who could help develop our many talented young centre backs.

His wages may still be an issue, but given he’s really keen to leave Saudi, maybe there is a way it can work.