Chelsea are eager to sign a right-back to deputise the injured Reece James in the January transfer window, according to reports. The 22-year-old defender suffered a knee injury in the Blues' 2-0 win over AC Milan earlier this month and is set to be out for eight weeks.
Graham Potter is now without one of the west Londoners' key players in the final fixtures leading up to the Qatar World Cup. After failing to sign Denzel Dumfries in the summer, Todd Boehly has been left to rue the decision with just Cesar Azpilicueta, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Raheem Sterling as Chelsea's only viable senior options to cover the right wing-back position.
Keen to finally sign an understudy to James, Dumfries remains a key target for the Blues ahead of January, according to 90min. During negotiations of Romelu Lukaku's return to Inter in the summer, Chelsea asked the Italian giants to include Dumfries as part of a permanent player-plus-cash swap deal, according to Gazzetta dello Sport.
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But, a deal failed to materialise. With Boehly reminded of the club's need for a backup to James, Gianluca Di Marzio has told Chelsea how to sign the £43.4million-rated Dutchman.
Speaking to wettfreunde regarding Dumfries, Di Marzio said: "He's doing a good job at Inter - even Wednesday night against Barcelona. They don't want to sell Dumfries, but you know the economic situation of Inter is particular because the club is having economic problems, and so I think every player at Inter could be sold.
"But at this moment, the owner of Inter and Simone Inzaghi and the managers, they decided not to touch the most important players until the end of the season - Dumfries, [Milan] Skriniar," he added. "They will try to keep the most important players until the end of the season, and at the end of the season with Chelsea, they will try to renew the deal of Lukaku.
"I don't know if, in Lukaku's deal, Chelsea will try to ask again for Dumfries, or Skriniar or Lautaro [Martinez]. It depends on the two situations of the clubs, but they will talk again soon because Lukaku wants to stay at Inter and so surely Chelsea and Inter have to talk about Lukaku and probably other players."
With Chelsea unable to sign Dumfries until January at the very earliest, Potter has had to make do with what he's already got. And that has meant trialling Sterling at right wing-back, which hasn't necessarily gone down well with supporters.
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