Even Chelsea ruining football (again) doesn’t make Ben Chilwell worth it

Chelsea wants Ben Chilwell and Leicester City want £80 million. The Blues may be ruining football again, but that doesn’t make Ben Chilwell worth it.

Chelsea is buying up every good player they can find when no other club is really in a position to do anything about it. The Blues are ruining football (again) and bringing in talent that can rebuild Roman Abramovich’s empire. High on this list is a new left back.

Ben Chilwell is a good left back. Frank Lampard clearly wants him. Being English is a boost for a squad that has historically pushed against the non home grown limits. But all of that does not make Chilwell worth Leicester City’s asking price of a gargantuan £80 million.

Leicester has been burned before. After money balling and gritting their way to an impossible Premier League title, the team braced for bids on their best players. Only one left, N’Golo Kante, but he was arguably the most important player in the side. Beyond that, he left for pennies and won the Premier League with Chelsea the following season.

Since then, Leicester has taken a “never again” approach to transfers out. Somehow, they convinced Chelsea to buy Danny Drinkwater. Riyad Mahrez was clear in his intention to leave, something that usually drives the price down, but Manchester City still had to pay full price for him. Harry Maguire was but the latest player they sold for way more than he should have gone for.

The Chilwell saga reflects the Maguire saga. Both players are good. Both have the potential to be great and eventually be worth exorbitant transfer fees. But they aren’t there now. While part of a transfer fee is the potential the player has, Leicester has put that potential at a premium that neglects the current ability.

It should come as no surprise that the Blues had a plan B before and they are developing a new one now. Before it was Alex Telles or Nicolas Tagliafico, the latter of which still seems like an option, especially if Chelsea is already going to be talking to Ajax about a keeper. The latest name to come up is Sergio Reguilon, on loan at Sevilla from Real Madrid.

The Spanish full back has done well for himself, but Madrid already has Ferland Mendy and they refuse to believe Marcelo can age. Beyond that, every Spanish club is seemingly in desperate need of transfer funds after years of heavy spending and Covid hitting them.

Chelsea’s good relationship with both Ajax and Real Madrid could help them get a left back for cheap. Not necessarily a ready made star, but one that can get the job done for now. Chilwell was about building for the much longer term, but the price is simply ludicrous.

The only thing still really going for a Chilwell transfer is the player supposedly wants the move and Lampard wants the player. That could allow the deal to drag on through the transfer window and it may eventually cause Leicester to drop their asking price to something that can at least pretend to be reasonable.

It is up to Chelsea how long they want to wait. With other left backs out there and the season almost already about to restart again, waiting to see if Chilwell becomes worth it may not be worth it.