Chelsea have seemingly decided to bring in a centre-back this winter, after overlooking Enzo Maresca's calls for one in the summer, after Levi Colwill had gotten injured. But once again, it looks like the club won't be trying to bring in proven quality and experience. The focus is once again on potential instead.
Chelsea have signed quite a few French centre-backs already with little results. Wesley Fofana is decent on his day, but far too injury-prone to be relied upon. Benoit Badiashile is far too inconsistent and has had his fair share of fitness issues as well. Axel Disasi is out of the project.
Now, it looks like Chelsea are going to try again. A 20-year-old French centre-back from Rennes is the one drawing their interest this time around.
As reported by Foot Mercato, Jeremy Jacquet has already agreed terms with Chelsea. It is believed that Rennes will look for around €70 million to part ways with the centre-back.
Chelsea agree personal terms with €70m centre-back
Now, Jacquet is very highly rated, and there is a lot to like about his game. He is someone who likes to play on the front foot, is excellent in the air, pretty good with his passing and no U21 player has more interceptions in the Top 5 Leagues than him.
That being said, there are areas of concern as well. He is not the most physical of centre-backs and might find it tough in the Premier League. Also, his front foot defending means that he tends to leave space open behind him, which opposition teams might take advantage of.
Shelling out that kind of money to sign a 20-year-old centre-back is always going to be risky. It would have been a lot safer to bring in Marc Guehi for a fraction of the fee it will take to sign Jacquet. But Chelsea look like a club intent on not learning from their mistakes.