Chelsea are also believed to be weighing up the possibility of signing two players from Barcelona, amid their widely-reported interest in a January deal for Crystal Palace stalwart Marc Guehi.
Chelsea consider re-signing Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace
Enzo Maresca’s search for another centre-back is a concrete ongoing situation, and it is reliably believed that Guehi is an option under serious consideration.
Chelsea chiefs view £99m Premier League star as "key" potential signing
They’re “ready to compete” for his signature.
ByEmilio GalantiniJan 4, 2025
The west Londoners could be without Wesley Fofana for the rest of the season, and Benoit Badiashile is also currently on the treatment table, partly prompting BlueCo to enter the market for central defensive reinforcements.
Chelsea reportedly had every intention of signing another centre-back this month, regardless of the aforementioned duo’s injury woes, but Fofana and Badiashile’s absences appear to have kicked them into another gear.
Bournemouth (home)
January 14
Wolverhampton Wanderers (home)
January 20
Man City (away)
January 25
West Ham (away)
February 3
Brighton (away)
February 14
An array of credible media outlets and journalists have reported that Chelsea are actively considering a winter deal for Guehi, who has 18 months left on his current contract, and they could even re-call Trevoh Chalobah from his temporary spell at Selhurst Park.
Fabrizio Romano backs reports that Guehi’s return to Chelsea is a real possibility before deadline day on February 3, while the BBC’s Nizaar Kinsella suggests that Eagles chairman Steve Parish could be tempted to entertain talks thanks to a sell-on clause in the 24-year-old’s contract.
That being said, if a deal cannot be done for the England international, then Maresca’s side have compiled a list of alternatives.
Reliable Chelsea reporter Simon Phillips writes that, alongside Guehi, Benfica pair Tomas Araujo and Antonio Silva are on the agenda, as well as Bournemouth’s Illia Zabarnyi and Dean Huijsen.
However, fellow journalist Graeme Bailey says multiple players from Barcelona are being thought about too.
Chelsea eyeing January moves for Ronald Araujo and Jules Kounde
Writing for The Boot Room, Bailey says that both Jules Kounde and Ronald Araujo are targets for the Blues. The Catalan stars, on a combined total of around £329,000-per-week at the Camp Nou, are on Chelsea’s shortlist of central defensive targets for January with the likes of Guehi.
As Chelsea eye January moves for Kounde and Araujo, it isn’t hard to see why they’re interested in the former. Kounde is a mainstay under Hansi Flick, playing in each of Barca’s 19 La Liga matches so far and starting 17 of them.
He’s also their third-best-performing player by average match rating according to WhoScored, but this fact means that a January deal could be hard to pull off for Chelsea.
Araujo, meanwhile, has spent the vast majority of this campaign out with a hamstring injury and has only just returned to the matchday squad – featuring on the bench in their last two La Liga games but still waiting for his first Spanish top flight appearance of 2024/2025.
