While most transfer talk surrounding Chelsea right now has been about the club signing a new winger, it is thought that they still want to bring in a central defender this summer.
The Conference League winners are said to have several names on their shortlist, including Bayer Leverkusen’s Piero Hincapie.
It has been claimed that Chelsea could sign Hincapie for £51m, which is the value of the 23-year-old’s release clause.
As well as Hincapie, Chelsea are also believed to have the likes of Ajax’s Jorrel Hato and Benfica’s Tomas Araujo on their radar.
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Chelsea’s interest in Tomas Araujo cooling
It had been reported that Chelsea were giving serious consideration to signing Araujo, but that may have changed.
Journalist Simon Phillips has shared via his Substack that Chelsea do like the 23-year-old, but after some thorough scouting, it looks like whatever interest they had in him could be about to cool.
According to Phillips, Chelsea do not like that Araujo has been playing at right-back, with the club wanting a natural centre-half.
Chelsea scouts have fed back to the Stamford Bridge hierarchy that Araujo was often used on the right side of Benfica’s defence last season, and it looks like that has now put them off from making an attempt to sign him.
| Tomas Araujo’s positions played in 2024/25 | Total number of games |
| Right-back | 20 |
| Centre-back | 21 |
| Right midfielder | 3 |
Araujo is not the only defender in Portugal that Chelsea have looked at, though, so they could still end up signing a centre-back from there. For other interested parties, Araujo is likely to cost them £68m.
Chelsea could still sign defender from Portuguese league
Sporting Lisbon youngster Ousmane Diomande is another centre-half from the Portuguese league who is thought to have caught Chelsea’s attention.
Enzo Maresca is allegedly a fan of Diomande, so a move for him during this transfer window cannot be ruled out.
But as for Araujo, that may be one for a later date after the Portugal international has proved himself a bit more in central defence.
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