Chelsea given £45m asking price for defender with 127 Premier League appearances | OneFootball

Long reported Chelsea target Max Kilman could be on the move this summer – but his club have set a significant asking price for him. Today reports are that they’ve turned down a £25m offer from West Ham for the centre back, and are looking for a lot more.

Ben Jacobs is reporting that Wolves want £45m for their captain, and while that price might be brought down a little, it’s not going to tumble significantly. They’ve already turned down £30m from Napoli, so it looks like only £40m or more is going to get the job done. It’s a big sum, but the Midlands club are in a strong position.

Chelsea’s position on defender move

This is significant because Kilman has been linked so heavily with Chelsea before. He’s a West London boy, and there’s always a sense he would like to make a move to Stamford Bridge if the chance came up. He’s class on the ball and has built up a lot of Premier League experience with Wolves now – he’s made 127 appearances since making his debut in May 2019.

Of course, it may well be that Chelsea’s free transfer acquisition of Tosin Adarabioyo is sufficient for their defensive needs this summer. The chatter about Trevoh Chalobah leaving has certainly died down for now, and if he stays we are well stocked at the back. Wesley Fofana will return from injury in time for preseason, meaning he can compete with Chalobah, Benoit Badiashile, Levi Colwill and Axel Disasi (and that’s not counting various academy players ready to fill in).

If Chalobah goes, on the other hand, we expect interest in players like Kilman to step up significantly. At £45m however, it’s tough to see him being a target under this ownership. He’s now 27, and it’s hard to square those two numbers in the current strategy.