Chelsea agree €37m fee for Monaco centre-back Benoit Badiashile

FEE AGREED: Benoit Badiashile in action for France during the Nations League match against Austria. Pic: Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images

Chelsea are close to bolstering their defence by signing Benoit Badiashile from Monaco for €37m. Badiashile is due to undergo a medical after Chelsea reached an agreement on a fee. The 21-year-old Frenchman is a left-sided centre-back and will give Graham Potter more options.

The west London club have been looking to add more depth in central defence since losing Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger. Personal terms were agreed with Josko Gvardiol last summer but Chelsea were unable to meet RB Leipzig’s asking price for the Croatia defender. Gvardiol starred during the World Cup, helping Croatia finish third, and will command plenty of interest in the summer.

Badiashile represents a more affordable option. He is strong, quick, and has featured for France at senior level. Potter’s other centre-backs are Thiago Silva, Kalidou Koulibaly, Trevoh Chalobah, and Wesley Fofana, who is out with a knee injury.

Chelsea, who are confident of extending N’Golo Kante’s contract, are looking to be aggressive in January as they attempt to kickstart their top-four challenge. They are trying to boost their midfield by signing Enzo Fernandez from Benfica and are also interested in Brighton midfielder Alexis Mac Allister. In attack they could rival Arsenal for the Shakhtar Donetsk winger Mykhailo Mudryk.

The Blues have already agreed to sign the striker David Datro Fofana from the Norwegian side Molde and are expected to confirm the arrival of Andrey Santos from Vasco da Gama.

Meanwhile, Patrick Vieira is adamant Crystal Palace need to make moves in the January transfer window to remain relevant in the Premier League.

His 11th-placed Eagles picked up a final three points of 2022 with a 2-0 win at Bournemouth, and face a difficult start to the new year with seven consecutive top-flight matches against clubs currently in the top half of the table, beginning with Tottenham on Wednesday.

Saturday's victory showed encouraging signs after a below-par performance in a 3-0 defeat to Fulham on St Stephen's Day, but Vieira knows he needs more options if the club wants to avoid a competitive plateau.

He said: "The focus is really on the players that we have. I think (against Bournemouth) we showed that we have a really good group of players. Of course we want to improve the squad. We've identified the profile of players that we need.

"And now the scouting department is starting to look after those players. And then the second phase of it is to see if we can make it happen or not. But of course we will need players if we want to be more competitive in the Premier League.

"But if we don't find those players, we will work as well as we can, like we did (against Bournemouth)."

Guardian and PA