Chelsea have taken a first visible step towards Xabi Alonso\u2019s plan to trim the centre-back group to \u201cfour or five\u201d after agreeing the sale of Trevoh Chalobah to Como for $41.5 million (\u00a330 million).<\/p>\n
The academy graduate, who spent 18 years at the club, has now brought his Chelsea journey to an end and is set for Serie A. In a farewell message on social media, Chalobah wrote: \u201cAfter 18 years, it\u2019s time to say goodbye to Chelsea ,\u201d Chalobah wrote on social media. \u201cI arrived as a nine-year-old with a dream, and I leave as a man who\u2019s lived that dream in ways I never imagined.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis journey tested me, lifted me and strengthened me. To every teammate, coach, staff member and supporter, thank you for shaping me. I gave everything I had, and I\u2019m proud of the person this club helped me become.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo the young players: the path won\u2019t always be smooth. But stay ready, stay positive and keep your faith. God\u2019s timing is always right. Thank you all, truly, with love and gratitude.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even with Chalobah gone, Chelsea still have nine centre backs on the books. Lacroix is expected to remain after his recent $70 million (\u00a352 million) move, while Levi Colwill is viewed as untouchable and should play a major part this season after recovering from an ACL injury.<\/p>\n
The rest of the group is less settled. Wesley Fofana is likely to stay because of his huge price tag, but Tosin Adarabioyo has been linked with an exit as Chelsea look to streamline the squad. Axel Disasi and Beno\u00eet Badiashile are both available for transfer, with Disasi attracting interest in England and Napoli believed to be leading the chase for Badiashile.<\/p>\n
There is also uncertainty around Mamadou Sarr and Aar\u00f3n Anselmino. Sarr was removed from Chelsea\u2019s starting lineup against Johor Darul Ta\u2019zim for reasons that were not explained, while Anselmino went off injured, which may affect his next move.<\/p>\n
Josh Acheampong is another case requiring a decision. Chelsea hold very high hopes for the 20-year-old, but last season left supporters wanting more after he managed only 663 Premier League minutes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chelsea begin reshaping their defence as Chalobah leaves, with several centre-backs now facing uncertain futures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18386,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190],"tags":[242,180,182],"class_list":["post-18387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea","tag-injury","tag-player-news","tag-transfers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18387","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=18387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}