Romano makes BIZARRE Chelsea transfer claim

Jacque Talbot

• Updated: 12 Nov 2024 03:16 CST
• 3 min read

Fabrizio Romano has claimed that Chelsea have already initiated talks with centre-backs they are interested in ahead of next year - and Benfica's Tomas Araujo is among their targets.

The Italian reporter has revealed that the club are looking at the young defender ahead of the window next year.

It's not the first time his name has been mentioned: Romano revealed that the 22-year-old was a player Chelsea were looking at as a potential option during the summer window, but no move came to fruition as Benfica were unwilling to sell.

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They told clubs to activate his release clause, but it's reportedly worth a whopping €100 million. At the time, and speaking to CaughtOffside, Romano said that a deal may happen in the future, while defender Castello Lukeba is also admired.

Current ETV

Tomás Araújo

D (C)

Benfica

Tomás Araújo

D (C)

Benfica

€6.5M

ETV Range

€4.9M - €8.1M

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"Chelsea are following many centre-backs [and] Lukeba is one of many players they’ve been monitoring, which is absolutely normal, just like with Tomas Araujo at Benfica. Araujo in particular is a player Chelsea really like, and they tried for him in the final weeks of the summer transfer window."

Chelsea's centre-backs

Romano has now provided an update, saying that Araujo is a player they like. “Chelsea are actively monitoring the centre-back market,” he said on his YouTube channel.

“Let’s see if it will be January or summer. They considered Tomás Araújo in the last days of the summer just gone but Benfica were not selling. Chelsea are interested in several players.”

What makes this strange is the amount of centre-backs at Chelsea's disposal right now. The club have Benoit Badiashile, Levi Colwill, Wesley Fofana, and Axel Disasi, while they signed Tosin Adarabioyo for free during the last summer window.

Colwill and Fofana are the regular starters and it's possible that the other players' futures are not entirely certain.

Last summer, Chelsea signed Tosin Adarabioyo for free, too, but he has had a mixed tenure so far.