Chelsea must avoid selling Ben Chilwell at any price

Chelsea will be looking to sell players this summer but Ben Chilwell showed once again against Leicester City why he should not be one of them.

No doubt Chelsea readers seeing that opening line will be thinking that is the epitome of stating the obvious. However, the prospect of Chilwell departing Stamford Bridge at the end of the season can not be ruled out. Last month, speculation circulated about Manchester City being interested in signing the England international. The Athletic has been told by sources within the club, who have spoken anonymously to protect relationships, that there is genuine interest from Pep Guardiola's side.

This does make sense, and not just because Chilwell is a fine player. Guardiola was keen on the left-back before he joined Chelsea for £50million ($60.2m) in 2020 and City want to buy another full-back on that flank after the departure of Joao Cancelo, initially on loan but with an option to buy included, to Bayern Munich.

Nathan Ake has played there and while he performs at a high level, it is not his strongest position. He cannot be compared to someone who has made their name playing there throughout his career like Chilwell.

Chelsea fans will no doubt reply to this development with a simple 'the club will not sell so there is nothing to worry about' line of thinking. Based on his performances, that should be the stance — but it is not quite so clear-cut.

Qualifying for the Champions League is unlikely despite securing successive Premier League wins versus Leeds and Leicester. They are 11 points behind Tottenham in fourth, albeit with a game in hand, with 12 fixtures to go. They can still book a spot by winning the competition but they are not one of the favourites.

Chelsea have missed Reece James and Ben Chilwell in tandem on the flanks (Photo: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Chelsea are planning a mass clearout, partly to reduce the size of the squad as head coach Graham Potter has more than 30 players in his senior ranks. But after spending more than £500million on signings in the past two windows, plus with the desire to recruit more, money has to be raised from incomings to help meet financial fair play rules.

The first candidates for the possible departure list are those who have just one year left on their contracts (not including Thiago Silva, who has just agreed a new 12-month deal). If there are any doubts over an extension, the club will do their utmost to sell them. This includes Mason Mount, Mateo Kovacic, Cesar Azpilicueta, Christian Pulisic, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

But Chelsea are also going to start looking at those who have only two years remaining and Chilwell is among seven in that bracket. As with those who have just one year left, new terms can be discussed but it will come into Chelsea's thinking as the more a contract winds down, the more the player depreciates in value.

As Chilwell is 26 and an England international, Chelsea could command a high fee for him. Chilwell's injury record — he has suffered a serious knee ligament and hamstring injury since moving to Stamford Bridge — has restricted him to 76 appearances in three years.

Chelsea spent an initial £56million to buy Marc Cucurella from Brighton & Hove Albion last year so they have an experienced figure in the squad to replace him. It would potentially give Potter one less selection problem to handle in the long term.

If they decide not to go into the market to find a cheap option to act as back-up to Cucurella, Chelsea can look to academy player Lewis Hall, who has made seven appearances for the senior side this season and/or the highly-rated Ian Maatsen, who is impressing on loan at Championship leaders Burnley.

But selling Chilwell would not make any sense. He has been a major asset to Chelsea since his arrival, especially when operating as a left-wing back. Chelsea's results last season deteriorated when he and right back/right-wing back Reece James were out of the side through injury. Their 'partnership' on opposite flanks is at the same level as Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson.

Chilwell's return to form after three months out with a hamstring strain has coincided with Potter's team winning three straight games. He has started the past six but come to the fore against Leeds, Borussia Dortmund and Leicester.

His superb volley which opened the scoring in the 3-1 win away to Leicester took his tally to nine goals and 11 assists for the club. That works out better than one goal involvement every four games.

The away fans made it clear how much they appreciate him by singing 'Ben Chilwell has won the European Cup' — he was part of the Chelsea side which beat Manchester City in the 2021 final.

The feeling is mutual. Chilwell is happy at Chelsea and is settled living near the club's training ground in Cobham. Speaking after the win over his former club, he told Chelsea's Fifth Stand app: “I love the way the fans got behind us. They have done all season, it's been a difficult season but they've stuck with us and to hear them singing that song (won the European Cup) the whole game was nice for me, (it) gave me a little boost.”

He does not sound like a man who wants the relationship with Chelsea to end any time soon. Chelsea should be thinking the same.