Exclusive claims Chelsea will value defender at just £25m again despite brilliant form | OneFootball

Chelsea’s final game of the season has been played, and now attention turns immediately to the future.

The Blues still haven’t decided (or at least announced) if Mauricio Pochettino’s future is secure, but that hasn’t stopped them moving quicky on other fronts. The accounting period for this season ends on the 30th of June, and things are expected to move quickly before then.

One issue that’s set to be hugely controversial is that of Trevoh Chalobah. Last summer saw the defender hawked around by the sporting directors, without a sale going through. According to what we’ve heard all season long from those in the know, the financial pressures to sell him (as a home grown player who would generate “pure profit” have only increased.

Matt Law’s exclusive, published just now, claims that the club are “braced for new bids” for the defender, whom they priced at £25m last summer. After a fantastic few months after returning from injury in February, that should have gone up even further now.

Trevoh Chalobah in action against Manchester City in the FA Cup semi final.

Happy to stay and fight for his place

Chalobah has a contract until 2028 and won’t push to leave. He turned down Nottingham Forest last summer, and has stayed to fight for him place under a series of managers. Half a dozen central defenders have been bought in the last few years to try and replace him, but he’s seen them all off.

The smart thing to do now is to be delighted that we’ve got a fantastic home grown player on the books. But it’s not clear how much the need to sell is going to cause him to be forced out. Are the sporting directors happy to keep him around unless an exceptional offer comes in, or are they once again going to be actively shopping out their best performing defending from the season?

All we know is that £25m offers should be responded to derisively.