Chelsea have lost battle for 22 year old to PSG and may now have to change their strategy | OneFootball

Chelsea are working their way down the list of central defenders they’re interested in, and while there’s still a long way to go this summer, they can already cross off a few targets.

Chelsea’s defender targets going quickly as summer gets into gear

Ilya Zabarnyi playing for Bournemouth. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

Dean Huijsen, their number one option, has signed for Real Madrid, Marc Guehi is now being seriously linked to Liverpool, and now Huijsen’s teammate Ilya Zabarnyi is being very strongly linked with a move to PSG.

That interest has reached the stage where we would say that only a move to Paris breaking down would mean Chelsea having a chance for the Ukraine defender, as transfer guru Graeme Bailey explained in quotes picked up by CaughtOffside:

“I can confirm even in the last few weeks since it emerged about PSG, that Chelsea and Newcastle again asked the question, but were also told that he only wants PSG.”

Despite making it into the Champions League, we clearly still don’t have the pulling power of the Champions League winning Parisians, who really look to be starting a dynasty.

Chelsea may be forced to bend transfer rules to ensure squad is strengthened this summer

Our chances of signing Zabarnyi look really limited now. As Bailey says, he wants PSG and it looks like Luis Enrique’s team will do all they can to secure the 22 year old.

That means another prime option off Chelsea’s list, and it’s not clear where they will turn next. The links to the likes of Aymeric Laporte were never that convincing as he’s so far outside the club’s usual age limits, but if the summer goes on with more of the tempting targets getting beyond our reach, we may have to consider bending those rules.

Our next moves will be very interesting.