When the teams are announced for tomorrow’s game against Aston Villa, unless there’s been an injury we don’t know about in the last couple of days, Benoit Badiashile will be on the bench.
That’s where the Frenchman has been pretty much all season, apart from in cup games. He did get a run out last weekend, with both Reece James and Malo Gusto out and Wesley Fofana forced to move to right back. But with Gusto back, Badiashile should return to the bench.
It’s not clear how long he’s willing to put up with this situation – French transfer site FootMercato have the report today claiming there’s significant interest in the former Monaco man.
Benoit Badiashile heads the ball clear. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Benoit Badiashile heads the ball clear. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Sale still looks unlikely in short term
Even they don’t sound convinced that anything is coming soon. They write that “the current trend” is for Badiashile is to stay at Chelsea in January. We don’t doubt that – we don’t think there will be anyone remotely near the first team sold.
They do note that “Serie A and Bundesliga teams are on the case”, and we would imagine the situation will be reassessed in the summer. So far, the 23 year old has played 847 total minutes this season, not a bad return at all.
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Chelsea in a team huddle ahead of EFL Cup game. (Photo by Ed Sykes/Getty Images)
Chelsea in a team huddle ahead of EFL Cup game. (Photo by Ed Sykes/Getty Images)
Chelsea in preseason before their game against Man City.
Chelsea look like they’re going to get Europa League or Champions League football next season, so even if he just stays put and plays the same “cup defender” role, he might be happy with that.
The links to new central defenders never stops, but given Badiashile is young, talented, on a long contract and was personally signed by Laurence Stewart from his previous club, we’d imagine he will be given as much leeway as possible to really get his Stamford Bridge career up and running before the club even think about selling him.