Monaco manager Philippe Clement has made the surprise claim that it seems Chelsea are not the only club pursuing a transfer deal for Benoit Badiashile.
The Blues have been strongly linked with the 21-year-old in the last week or so, with Fabrizio Romano confirming in his exclusive CaughtOffside column that advanced talks were being held over bringing the player to Stamford Bridge.
Badiashile looks like he could be a useful signing for Chelsea after a difficult start to the season in which Wesley Fofana has struggled to stay fit, while Kalidou Koulibaly has been slow to settle since his summer move from Napoli.
It looked like Chelsea were making good progress on Badiashile, but Clement has now suggested that there may be other clubs in the race for the French youngster’s signature as well.
When asked for an update on the Badiashile to Chelsea saga, Clement said, as quoted by the Metro: “I don’t think there is only one club that has approached Benoit Badiashile.
“It’s not just Chelsea. There has been a lot of interest in several of our players over the past six months. This is also the case with Benoit.”
It remains to be seen who these mystery teams might be, but we’ll surely find out before too long if Chelsea can remain in pole position for this signing.