Chelsea are said to have increased their push for Rayo Vallecano left back Pep Chavarr\u00eda as they look to solve the vacancy created by Marc Cucurella\u2019s move to Real Madrid.<\/p>\n
MARCA reports that Rayo Vallecano turned down an opening proposal of about $17.3 million (\u20ac15 million) and are holding out for a fee closer to $28.8 million (\u20ac25 million) for the 28-year-old. The size of Chelsea\u2019s revised offer has not been disclosed, but talks are still active and a deal could yet move quickly.<\/p>\n
Chavarr\u00eda has not appeared in any of Rayo Vallecano\u2019s three July preseason matches, with the player reportedly focused on a switch to Stamford Bridge. Xabi Alonso is believed to be driving the move, while personal terms are not expected to create problems.<\/p>\n
The need for Chelsea to strengthen on the left side of defence is clear after Cucurella\u2019s departure. Jorrel Hato impressed in his first season in England, but the Dutchman may be more naturally suited to develop as a centre back. That leaves Chelsea with an obvious need to secure a senior left back before the summer transfer window closes.<\/p>\n
Chavarr\u00eda\u2019s route to this point has been a gradual one. He did not make his La Liga debut until the age of 24, then followed two solid seasons at Real Zaragoza with a move to Rayo Vallecano in the summer of 2022. There, under Andoni Iraola and later I\u00f1igo P\u00e9rez, he developed into a reliable, high-energy fullback.<\/p>\n
His profile has been shaped by consistency and endurance. He became a key figure in a Rayo side that reached European competition for the first time in 25 years and later advanced to the UEFA Conference League final last season. Chavarr\u00eda also started 29 La Liga matches a season ago, underlining the trust placed in him.<\/p>\n
If Chelsea complete the move, they would be signing an established player who could step straight into the role left open by Cucurella, with the flexibility to operate as either a fullback or wing-back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chelsea are pushing for Pep Chavarr\u00eda as talks continue over a left-back move this summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18185,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1836],"class_list":["post-18186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-2026-27-premier-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}