Suraj Radia
Liam Rosenior, Chelsea
© IMAGO
Chelsea’s pursuit of a defender before the January transfer deadline has taken a twist after yet another wonderkid from Ligue 1 rejected the opportunity to move to Stamford Bridge.
The Blues have been keen to add another centre-back to their ranks, having seen a number of stars suffer injuries across the course of the season.
Chelsea were keen to sign Jeremy Jacquet from Rennes but the French outfit were only willing to sanction his departure in the summer and the 20-year-old has instead opted to join Liverpool in a €60 million deal." href="https://www.footballtransfers.com/en/transfer-news/uk-premier-league/2026/02/jeremy-jacquet-liverpool-hijack-transfer-as-fabrizio-romano-confirms-eur70m-deal" target="_blank">has instead opted to join Liverpool in a €60 million deal.
The situation saw Chelsea turn to Tylel Tati, with a view to signing the Nantes defender and instantly loaning him to affiliate club Strasbourg until the end of the season.
According to L’Equipe" href="https://www.lequipe.fr/Football/Actualites/Mercato-le-defenseur-de-nantes-tylel-tati-n-ira-pas-a-chelsea/1638764" target="_blank">L’Equipe, Chelsea made an unwritten offer of €30m for Tati and talks were held with the 18-year-old’s camp on Monday but the youngster has instead opted to remain with Nantes for the rest of the campaign.
Tati is described as wanting to take his time to decide his future and is also ‘determined’ to play a full season at his boyhood club and help them avoid relegation.
Chelsea find loan solution to centre-back problem