**West Ham United could take advantage of Chelsea’s squad overload in central defence this summer.**
Chelsea have always been known for having too many players, whether that was because their academy produced so much talent, or now, because they purchase so many players.
But the fact is, Chelsea have way too many central defenders. They currently have ten on their books, and new manager Xabi Alonso wants to get that down to four or five, so they’ve got a lot of work to do.
There are three central defenders at the Blues who will certainly stay – new signing Maxence Lacroix, Levi Colwill , and Jorrel Hato.
That leaves Trevoh Chalobah, Wesley Fofana, Tosin Adarabioyo, Mamadou Sarr, Axel Disasi, Benoit Badiashile, and Aaron Anselmino all avaliable for transfer, and with West Ham looking for a central defender, there could be some opportunity there for Nuno Espirito Santo.
Obviously West Ham are in the Championship, and you’d normally say these players are all too good for the Championship, and they probably are. All seven of these players have proven themselves to be good enough to play in a top five league. But a club like West Ham being in the Championship is rare, and they are willing to give out Premier League wages in an attempt to get back up to the PL.
Also, the reality is, the majority of these players’ stocks are probably as low as they’ve ever been, Tosin, Disasi, and Badiashile especially who could be realistic options for the Hammers.
We know how much West Ham want to sign Disasi this summer, he’s our top target, and it doesn’t seem like we’re going to target any other defenders until we know it’s impossible. We have made contact with Chelsea for the Frenchman, and it seems like a deal could be agreed. However, he even though he loved his time in East London, he doesn’t want to play in the Championship, so I assume he’s waiting for better offers to come before he makes a decision.
As for Badiashile, like Disasi, I don’t think he’s got any chance of playing for Chelsea again so he needs to get out of there. Reports suggest he could be closing in on a move to Napolo, so if that’s the case then we have no chance. But if that doesn’t happen, and no other clubs come in for him, he could be an option for us.
Finally, Tosin could be a more gettable player in our position, the only clubs I could see coming in for him are lower level PL clubs, so dropping down to the Championship for a season and hopefully coming back at the first time of asking could be appealing to him. He would probably cost less then Disasi and Badiashile too. I’m sure we’d be interested in Sarr or Anselmino on loan too if that was possible.