Every Chelsea fan knew that Levi Colwill's blow was a major blow for the club and something needed to be done in the transfer market to cushion it. Unfortunately, the club appeared to believe that they had enough in their centre-back ranks to deal with the absence of their best defender. A couple of months on and they have been proven completely wrong.
Chelsea have been terrible defensively this season. In fact, their struggles at the back have come as a surprise to even the fans. While Colwill was immense towards the end of last season, not many would have realised he was this important.
On the other hand, Chelsea continue to deal with other issues at the back as well. Wesley Fofana and Tosin Adarabioyo are both out injured. Trevoh Chalobah picked up a red card in the last game. And Benoit Badiashile has only returned from an injury recently and will take some time to get up to speed, although most believe that the Frenchman is not good enough in the first place.
Maresca had seemed keen on Chelsea signing another centre-back after Colwill's injury. His wishes were ignored at that point. But the manger has been proven right over time and now, it looks like the club have changed their stance on the matter as well.
Chelsea working on deal to sign centre-back in January
As reported by Football Insider, Chelsea are working on a new centre-back signing for when the January transfer window opens. Both Maresca and the club feel that the position is now a priority.
One can only wonder how differently things could have turned out if Chelsea had pushed to sign Marc Guehi in the summer transfer window. He was available for the right offer and a move to Liverpool only collapsed at the last minute.
That does give Chelsea another chance to sign someone like Guehi in the winter. But knowing how the club work under this new ownership, do not be surprised if they try to bring in some 19-year-old centre-back to fill Colwill's void instead.
That is something that has frustrated the fans for a while now. The club seem to be intent on reinventing the wheel and changing the game, rather than doing what needs to be done in order to take Chelsea forward. It has quickly become all about hoping for a better future rather than focusing on the present.