Transfer exclusive drops while Chelsea are playing FA Cup tie | OneFootball

While Chelsea are playing out their FA Cup game against Brighton, Football Insider have dropped a late night Saturday exclusive about the Blues’ transfer intentions.

Pete O’Rourke claims that Chelsea are “set to find a new home for Ben Chilwell,” once the left back returns from the loan spell at Crystal Palace he’s just begun after making the move in January.

It’s been a pretty tragic year or so for Chilwell. The Champions League winner had yet more injuries, then went from key player to frozen out entirely at Chelsea after Enzo Maresca arrived and decided he didn’t like the 28 year old’s style. No buyer was found last summer, and he spent some time training with the “bomb squad” of unwanted players.

It seemed like the loan of Renato Veiga to Juventus might create a space for Chilwell as backup left back, but in the end the club would rather put get the England capped former Leicester man regular minutes and use Malo Gusto or Reece James as Marc Cucurella’s reserves.

Situation with Chilwell remains unchanged despite “exclusive” claims

Ben Chilwell warms up in the Carabao Cup. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

This has got to be one of the most obvious “exclusives” ever. Of course Chelsea want to sell Chilwell permanently. That’s been the case since last summer, and they’ve done everything they can to make that happen, without much success thanks to his huge wages.

The question is not whether they want to sell him, it’s if anyone wants to buy him. The idea of the loan to Palace is that it gets him in the shop window, but beyond that there’s no certainty there will be any permanent offers. There weren’t in January or last summer, so until our asking price meets someone’s bidding price, this is the status quo.