HITC understands Chelsea’s summer transfer plans includes bringing in a new left-back and they are moving forward with their targets,
One of the key elements of play that will be introduced by new Blues head-coach Enzo Maresca is the ability for their full-backs to become inverted which simply means they push up and become more involved in midfield than defence.
As it stands Chelsea have Ben Chilwell and Marc Cucurella – but HITC is told that the club want to upgrade on this, indeed they would be willing to let both players leave.
Some would actually point to the fact that the left-back at Chelsea best suited to Maresca’s system would arguably be Ian Maatsen, but he has made it clear his future lies away from Stamford Bridge and he is close to finalising a move to Aston Villa.
HITC is told that Chelsea have been busy looking around the world at prospective left-back options that would fit into Marseca’s system.
AC Milan’s Theo Hernandez attracting Chelsea attention
HITC can now reveal that AC Milan’s Theo Hernandez is a player that has emerged as a player that Chelsea hugely admire and internally they feel he would be an ideal fit for Maresca’s system.
Hernandez is hugely adept at playing as an inverted left-back which he has and is doing at such a high level for Milan and France.
Hernandez currently has two-years left on his current deal and Milan would ideally like to extend his stay at the San Siro.
Bayern Munich are understood to be closely following Hernandez as they see him as they ideal option to replace Alphonso Davies – who is expected to join Real Madrid at some point in the next 12-months.
However, Milan are aware of the interest that is emerging in Hernandez but he is seen as a cornerstone of the squad and recently the club’s new senior advisor Zlatan Ibrahimovic made it clear that Hernandez would be staying along with French teammate Mike Maignan and Rafa Leao – all of whom have been linked with move away from the club.
“Theo and Maignan will stay, Leao too. They are among the strongest players in their roles and have a contract with us, they are happy. We don’t need to sell,” Ibrahmovic stated earlier this month at his first official press conference.
Theo Hernandez admits he could leave AC Milan
However, despite the comments from Ibrahimovic, Hernandez himself has cast some doubt on his long-term future at Milan.
Ahead of Euro 2024, where he is featuring for France, he admitted to the Gazetta dello Sport: “I’m focused on the European Championship. Whether I’ll stay at AC Milan or not, we’ll see later.”
Aside from Hernandez, HITC can confirm that there are other options that Chelsea are considering as they also realise that getting him out of Milan may not be easy, or cheap as they are believed to value him at more than £60million.
Another on Chelsea’s radar include Hernandez’s cross-city rival at Inter Milan in the shape of Federico Dimarco. The Italian international is someone Chelsea have been tracking for more than two-years and he did sign a new contract with Inter in December.
Both Dimarco and Hernandez are aged 26 and there are some younger alternatives being considered too – these include Stade Brest’s Bradley Locko, 22 and Bournemouth’s Milos Kerkez, 20, both of whom Chelsea have done a lot of work on in the past six-months.
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