Chelsea among the elite clubs watching £60m player who Unai Emery strongly rates

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Chelsea are now being linked with a central defender who’s highly rated by Unai Emery.

The Blues have definitely managed to assemble a talented young squad of players at Stamford Bridge, which has gelled together superbly well in the opening months of Enzo Maresca’s reign.

But if there’s one early concern for the Chelsea manager, it should be that his side are currently conceding too many goals. The defence has leaked eight goals from the first seven Premier League games this season.

GiveMeSport has claimed that Chelsea want to sign a versatile defender in January, someone who can play as a centre-half or right-back. Instead, they’re now being linked with a left-footed centre-back.

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Chelsea eyeing Castello Lukeba

According to CaughtOffside, Chelsea are one of the elite teams who have RB Leipzig’s Castello Lukeba on their transfer radar.

It is understood that Chelsea, Manchester City and Real Madrid are all eyeing the 21-year-old Bundesliga defender.

The report says that Aston Villa are actually planning an ambitious move for the Leipzig centre-back. Interestingly, Villa manager Unai Emery ‘strongly appreciates’ Lukeba, and would love to sign him in the New Year.

Apparently, Leipzig’s £60m price tag on the French youngster could end up pricing Villa out of a move.

Chelsea options in defence

In fairness, there’s already several different options at Chelsea in the heart of defence. However, they’re clearly not content with what they’ve got.

Levi Colwill, Wesley Fofana, Axel Disasi, Tosin Adarabioyo and Benoit Badiashile provide senior options at centre-back for the Blues.

There’s no doubt that Lukeba ticks so many boxes as a young and modern centre-half with so much potential, but we’d guess someone from the names above has to leave in the current first-team ranks to make room for him.