Wesley Fofana or Harry Maguire? Thomas Tuchel's search for a further centre-back signing seems to have been whittled down to the final two.
Initially, Jules Kounde was the one primed to come in alongside Kalidou Koulibaly this summer but his decision to stay in Spain and move to Barcelona forced new owner Todd Boehly to look elsewhere. For a while now, Chelsea's interest in the Leicester star has been known and personal terms have even been agreed. The sticking point seems to be the fee.
football.london understands that the Blues have had two bids knocked back to date with the latest totalling £70m. Whether or not a world-record bid for a defender is made remains to be seen but a contingency plan is seemingly in the process of being made in the worst-case scenario. The ideal situation of Fofana signing does still look promising as demonstrated by what happened before, during and after Leicester's Southampton loss this weekend but Boehly continues to plan for all scenarios.
READ MORE: Harry Maguire’s Manchester United exit chances assessed amid Wesley Fofana to Chelsea latest
No wonder that Maguire's name has come up on the agenda. The Daily Mail were the first to come out with this transfer suggestion and despite The Guardian saying that United are saying their captain is 'not for sale', it is understood that Chelsea could test the waters if Fofana was to prove unattainable.
How would the 29-year-old fit in though if he was signed in this shock deal? With this taken into account, football.london looks at Chelsea's best defensive set-up if Maguire was to sign in the end.
Maguire's best games are usually in the back five system, so the fact Tuchel regularly opts for this will suit the Englishman down to a tee.
With a significant transfer fee of around £40m expected for Manchester United to even consider a sale, the Blues would not spend that amount of money unless they have plans to use a player, Maguire in this situation, as a first-team regular.
The big change in this example would be Reece James dropping back into the right-centre-back position permanently to help compensate for one of Maguire's greatest weaknesses - lack of pace.
As demonstrated against Spurs in the 2-2 draw, James is brilliant with his pace and strength, so dropping him back to compensate for Maguire's biggest deficiency won't only benefit the dynamic of the backline but will also provide regular opportunities for Ruben Loftus-Cheek to fill in on the regular as a right-wing-back. A position he took to well during the Tottenham game.
Kalidou Koulibaly and Thiago Silva would rotate for one of the positions whilst the same could be said for Marc Cucurella and Ben Chilwell.
Trevoh Chalobah is set to go out on loan if/when one of Fofana/Maguire were to sign, so he would not be an option for rotation. Cesar Azpilicueta will be though.
Chelsea's best back five in front of Edouard Mendy: Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Reece James, Kalidou Koulibaly, Harry Maguire, Marc Cucurella.
Substitute options- Ben Chilwell, César Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva, Marcos Alonso.
Chelsea fans- What do you make of this concept line-up with Harry Maguire in it? Would you make any changes yourself? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below!
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