Chelsea are working to sign a new left-sided centre-back in the January transfer window with Monaco's Benoit Badiashile the leading candidate, according to The Athletic's David Ornstein.
The west London club still withhold an interest in RB Leipzig's Josko Gvardiol, however, it is believed that the Blues would have to pay a record fee for a defender in excess of £80million to secure the Croatian's services after the 20-year-old's impressive exploits at the World Cup.
This may mean that head coach Graham Potter will have to seek for alternatives should the youngster's valuation continue to appreciate.
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Alongside Badiashile, it is understood that the Blues also have an interest in Eintracht Frankfurt's Evan N'Dicka and Bayer Leverkusen's Piero Hincapie, with the former set to be a free agent in the summer.
At 21 years of age, Badiashile would add to Chelsea's recent acquisition of top, young talents with the signings of 18-year-old Carney Chukwuemeka, 21-year-old Wesley Fofana and 19-year-olds Cesare Casadei and Datro Fofana.
It is understood that a fee of €35million (£30million) will be enough to secure a deal for the Frenchman who has 17 caps for France U21s and an impressive 135 first team appearances for Monaco.
Potter will certainly hope that new faces can come through the door at Cobham after a mixed start to life in the Chelsea dugout that started with five wins from his first six matches but a five-match winless streak in the Premier League has seen the Blues drop to eighth ahead of their post-World Cup return at home to Bournemouth on Tuesday.
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