Chelsea made a brave call by not signing a centre-back in the summer transfer window. From Enzo Maresca's comments to the media, it was pretty clear that the Italian manager would have preferred for another defender to be brought in after Levi Colwill suffered an ACL injury in pre-season training which could keep him out for the entire campaign.
Chelsea were linked with a few defenders. One of them is Piero Hincapie. He has joined Arsenal instead. On the other hand, it looks like the Blues have one of his international teammates on their radar.
Ecuador recently won against Argentina, with the South American side keeping a clean sheet against the World Champions. And Joel Ordonez was a major reason behind that.
Ordonez, who currently plays for Club Brugge, is on the radar of Chelsea. The Blues appear to have sent scouts to watch him in action against Argentina. As reported by Football FanCast, Graeme Bailey said:
"Joel Ordonez is an outstanding young defender, and it is safe to assume that he will be leaving Club Brugge in 2026.
“He is going to the World Cup finals next summer, and I am told that he is almost certain to have gone before that point.
“Chelsea and Villa are both long-term admirers of Ordonez, so no shock they are both posting scouts to keep tabs on his progress, and seeing him in action against an international-calibre strike force like Argentina is important.”"
Chelsea interested in signing £40m Ecuadorian defender
Incidentally, Ordonez came through the youth ranks at Independiente del Valle, the same as Moises Caicedo and Kendry Paez. They are certainly doing something right there when it comes to their youth development.
It is believed that it would take a transfer fee in the region of £40 million to sign Ordonez. Of course, that is a steep fee for someone currently playing in the Belgian league. So, it remains to be seen if Chelsea will make a move of that magnitude for the Ecuadorian international.
Aston Villa appear to be interested in signing him as well. So, this is not going to be a straightforward transfer race, even if Chelsea try to bring him in, whether it be in January or next summer.
That being said, there are a lot of Chelsea fans who would like for some experience to be brought in at centre-back rather than another youngster. Otherwise, it might be better to give Josh Acheampong some extra game time.