Chelsea look set to turn their attention towards Barcelona outcast Sergino Dest in their bid to sign a new full-back.
The United States international is now seen as expendable at Barcelona by new boss Xavi after the return of club legend Dani Alves and has had a €20m price tag put on his head as Barcelona look to make some money from player sales.
It’s an unfortunate turn of events for the 21-year-old who was seen as one of the next big properties in European football after some impressive performances while he was Ajax and for Barcelona last season.
However, struggling for form this year in a team which has seen Barcelona break unwanted records such as being knocked out of the Champions League group stage for the first time in around 20 years is a by-product of both his and the teams struggles in the first half of the season.
According to El Nacional though, Chelsea are prepared to offer him a way out, with The Blues looking for someone to replenish their ranks at full-back after Ben Chilwell suffered a season ending ACL injury.
Reece James has also been put on the injury table in recent weeks, leaving Chelsea without both of their first choice players for those positions.
Left wing-back is more of a concern for Chelsea, who now only have Marcos Alonso available to play there naturally.
The reported number 1 target for The Blues, Lucas Digne, was unattainable for them as they did not want to fork out the price tag of around £30m for him, despite his abundant quality. And now Digne has confirmed a move to join Steven Gerrard at Aston Villa the same week Philippe Coutinho joined on a season long loan from Barcelona.
Nevertheless, the facts now stand as Chelsea are still looking for a wing-back, and seeing as Dest can play on both sides to an accomplished level, albeit the right being more natural, Dest would likely make an ideal transfer for Chelsea if Barcelona are really looking to offload him.