AC Milan full-back Theo Hernandez appears to have unwittingly ruled himself out of becoming a viable option in Chelsea's Ben Chilwell replacement search due to an admission on his part.
With only 11 days to go, Marina Granovskaia and co. are looking to secure some type of Chilwell replacement for Thomas Tuchel's side who are 'tired' with the tight schedule and lack of options available to them amid this injury crisis.
"I've answered this question a hundred times. If you look at our situation of long-term injuries, of key players injured, of Covid, and our schedule, you will have the answer," Tuchel responded when asked about struggling Premier League form post-Brighton.
He then went on to justify his statement: "Because we are tired. We are mentally tired and physically tired. You can see it in our performance. It's as easy as that."
With Trevoh Chalobah and Reece James on the road to recovery, the questions about who will fill the left-wing-back role for the remainder of the season continues.
The Blues still have Marcos Alonso and Malang Sarr deputising in the short-term but Tuchel's 'tired' admission will surely hurry the hierarchy into making a decision fairly soon.
football.london understands that Chelsea loanee Emerson Palmieri is the main target for this month to recall, instead of significant sums of money being spent in the short-term to paper over the cracks in the wing-back position.
However, Lyon's reluctance to relinquish one of their most impressive performers has left the European Champions desperately trying to agree a compensation package for a player they were happy to let go out on loan during the summer.
But desperate times call for desperate measures and it's clear that even Tuchel wants to give Emerson another crack of the whip with his recent admission on the situation.
Tuchel said: "I will not give you any details but I will not hide from the fact that we have a long-term injury with Ben Chilwell as our left wing-back, he will miss the whole season. We know Em and appreciate Em as a player and a person.
"He had such a huge influence – even though he didn't have a lot of minutes last season – because he is a top guy and a top professional. He is still a Chelsea player but it is not only what I wish for, we need to evaluate the situation.
"We are looking into it on this position and he is one of the options. I will not comment further."
With the inherent problems in completing this recall, certain sections of the supporters have been calling for the likes of AC Milan's Hernandez to be explored as a transfer option but the players' own admission has seemingly ruled him out of the running.
In an exclusive interview with the Athletic, the Frenchman admitted the main weakness of his game that could put the Blues off any potential deal.
"I'm still working on the defensive part of the game", he admitted.
“A full-back firstly has to defend and then has to attack. That is what I’m improving on, little by little. I’m young still, I have many years of football left and I’m improving on that defensive phase that I was missing.”
No wonder he hasn't been considered a top priority target to make the west London move this month but on top of this all, the 24-year-old only has his heart in one place.
As per Fabrizio Romano's tweet, it read: "Theo Hernandez confirms advanced talks to extend his contract: 'I'm very happy at Milan, we are discussing the renewal of my contract and things are going very well'”, he told The Athletic.
"'Negotiations underway for new five year deal. Theo wants to stay.'"
