Chelsea battled hard to secure a 3-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League on Monday night to move up to fourth in the division.
The Blues are fighting to land a place in the Champions League for the 2025/26 campaign and took another step towards achieving that goal with their victory over Wolves.
Away from the goalscorers, centre-back Trevoh Chalobah caught the eye with a strong performance on his return to the club after a loan spell with Crystal Palace in the first-half of the season.
The academy graduate won six of his eight duels and made three interceptions on the night, but Chelsea are now reportedly eyeing a player in his position who could be even better for Enzo Maresca.
Chelsea confident of signing new centre-back
According to GIVEMESPORT, the Premier League giants are confident that they will get a deal over the line for Crystal Palace centre-back Marc Guehi.
The report claims that the Blues are ‘adamant’ that they will eventually win the race to sign the England international, even if they have to wait until the summer to do it because Palace are unwilling to cash in on him midseason.
It states that the Eagles value the central defender at around £70m and that Chelsea believe Guehi is interested in returning to Stamford Bridge for a second spell at the club.
GIVEMESPORT adds that the player’s interest in making the move could give the Blues an advantage in the race to sign him, which may be why they are so confident that a deal will be done.
If Chelsea do eventually win the race for Guehi’s signature then it could be a fantastic piece of business for Maresca, as he could come in as an instant upgrade on Chalobah.
Why Guehi could be an upgrade on Chalobah
The two centre-backs, of course, spent the first half of this season playing in the same defensive unit for Palace and it was the England international who caught the eye with his impressive performances.
It is worth noting that Guehi has already been capped 22 times
Their respective performances in the Premier League for Palace this season back up that opinion, as the Eagles captain has been far more dominant from a defensive perspective.
|
24/25 Premier League |
Marc Guehi |
Trevoh Chalobah |
|---|---|---|
|
Appearances |
21 |
13 |
|
Tackles + interceptions per game |
2.3 |
3.2 |
|
Dribbled past per game |
0.4x |
0.8x |
|
Ground duel success rate |
66% |
58% |
|
Aerial duel success rate |
63% |
57% |
As you can see in the table above, Chalobah has made more defensive interventions per game but that has opened him up to being dribbled past twice as often, whilst losing more of his duels on the ground and in the air.
These statistics suggest that Guehi, once dubbed “exceptional” by Southgate, is harder for opposition players to beat, in dribbles and in duels, and that could make him even more solid at the back for Chelsea in comparison to his former teammate.
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An agreement has been reached with the player in question.
Therefore, Maresca should be delighted that the Blues are confident of getting a deal over the line for the Palace star, because he could come in and immediately improve the team with his dominant defensive play.
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2025-01-21 20:40:12
