Chelsea face crucial Trevoh Chalobah transfer decision after 'bomb squad' bounce back | OneFootball

Defender has excelled since early loan recall, but could become a casualty of the Blues’ search for another marquee centre-back signing

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The January transfer window was, in terms of incomings at least, a quiet one for Chelsea by comparison to what had come before. And yet, heading into this final month of the season, increasingly it looks as if that is when one of their more pivotal bits of recent business was done.

Initially summoned back as squad cover while Wesley Fofana and Benoit Badiashile were injured, Chalobah has since climbed above the likes of Tosin Adarabioyo, Josh Acheampong and the fit-again Badiashile to become first-choice alongside Levi Colwill at the heart of the Blues’ defence.

Then, the Blues kept only one clean sheet in 13 league matches, in a 0-0 draw away to Everton just before Christmas. Saturday’s 1-0 win in the reverse fixture made it three in five matches since Fofana was injured and Chalobah stepped into the team this time around.

"I think Trevoh, since he's back with us in January, he's doing very, very well,” Enzo Maresca said after the latter game. “He's playing, he's helping us, he's defending when he needs to defend.

“He's also building from the back when we need him so he's able to do that and we are very happy with Trevoh.”

You can see a similar situation playing out for Chalobah at Chelsea this summer

Maresca insisted that he is not surprised at how prominent a role Chalobah has played in the second half of the season; when he was recalled and added to Chelsea’s Conference League squad you suspected his primary brief would be as a relief pitcher in Europe. Instead, he was rested for both legs of the quarter-final against Legia Warsaw this month.

“I know that he can help us,” Maresca said. "For sure, we were in no doubt that Trevoh [would] help us.”

That claim, of course, belies the fact that Chalobah was part of the infamous ‘bomb squad’ of players deemed surplus to requirements by Maresca on arrival at Chelsea last summer and would have been sold permanently had a buyer been found.

Many fans were angered at his treatment, after Chalobah had finished last season as first-choice under Mauricio Pochettino. “It was a crime to let him leave,” former Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole said during TNT’s coverage of the Everton game on Saturday.

Already, though, you can see a similar situation playing out this summer.

With concerns over Fofana’s fitness record, Chelsea want to make a marquee addition at centre-back and are keen on Bournemouth’s Dean Huijsen, who has a £50million release clause.

But they already have five senior centre-backs, plus youngsters Acheampong and Aaron Anselmino, and Axel Disasi is due to return from his loan at Aston Villa. There will doubtless be a trimming of that group and Chalobah - as a homegrown, pure-profit talent - will again look appealing as a selling proposition from within.

How Chelsea fans would react to a sale remains to be seen, but given the general discontent at the way several Cobham academy graduates have been pushed towards the door in recent windows, you can imagine there will be a fair backlash, particularly if Chalobah’s form carries through to the end of the campaign.

Return? Chalobah shone during a loan stint at Crystal Palace, who will surely be interested in a permanent summer deal

Adam Davy/PA Wire

“I think about the players we’ve let out the door [at centre-back],” Cole added on Saturday. “Marc Guehi, Chalobah, [Fikayo] Tomori, and the amount of money spent on replacements, the Badiashiles, Fofanas, the [Kalidou] Koulibalys of this world.”

Of course, from Chalobah’s perspective it may be that a move suits. After a season or two in limbo, he appeared to be kicking on at Palace and was reportedly reluctant to return to Stamford Bridge until being assured by the club’s sporting directors that he would not be making up the numbers on the bench.

At the time of Chalobah’s recall there was an understanding between all parties that he would be allowed to leave permanently in the summer. Palace will surely be interested again, particularly if Guehi leaves. Keep playing as he has over the last month and they will not be alone.