While Chelsea’s January transfer window has been nowhere near as busy as their summer trolley dash, they could be set for an active deadline day.
Enzo Maresca’s side brought in no less than 10 new faces during the summer, and while there were also significant departures, such as Conor Gallagher, who joined Atletico Madrid and Romelu Lukaku, who was finally removed from the wage bill when he joined Napoli on a permanent deal, the club still had a bloated first-team squad.
Despite this potential for disharmony, Maresca has enjoyed a productive start to his Chelsea tenure, with the club sitting sixth in the Premier League table, just a point off the Champions League places. However, one Blues outcast looks set to be handed a Premier League lifeline.
Ben Chilwell set for Premier League switch
Chelsea left-back Ben Chilwell has played just 45 minutes of football this season, when he came off the bench at half-time in September’s 5-0 Carabao Cup win over Barrow.
The England international has not featured in any of Chelsea’s Premier League matchday squads and was not named in the club’s Conference League squad, but a move and the chance to get his career back on track appears imminent.
After being linked to West Ham earlier in the window, Crystal Palace are now set to sign the 28-year-old on loan for the rest of the campaign, as per transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano, who says all parties are now just waiting on the completion of a successful medical.
Should the move go through, Chilwell will arrive at Selhurst Park following the departure of Trevoh Chalobah, who Chelsea recalled from his season-long loan spell. Palace have also seen Chadi Riad suffer a serious knee injury, meaning the Eagles are facing a defensive crisis.
Chilwell will be hoping to reignite his career after playing just 21 times for the Blues last term as he dealt with hamstring and then knee issues that kept him out of England’s Euro 2024 squad.
No details concerning what percentage of Chilwell’s wages Palace will be covering have yet been disclosed, but Chilwell, who is valued at €20million by Transfermarkt and is under contract at Stamford Bridge until 2027, will be hoping that regular first-team football will let him get his career back on track.
Chilwell will join a Palace side who moved up to 12th in the Premier League table at the weekend after beating Manchester United 2-0 at Old Trafford on Sunday to register their fourth win in five across all competitions.
A report in the Athletic has also claimed that Palace have rejected a deadline day bid from Tottenham for their England international centre-back Marc Guehi, while Chelsea could also see defender Axel Disasi leave amid links to Aston Villa.
