Chelsea’s £105million pursuit of Enzo Fernandez may not be the only World Cup addition made at Stamford Bridge this month. The Benfica midfielder has been strongly linked with a move after his five-star outing in Qatar with Argentina and Graham Potter’s side look to be leading the race.
The Blues appear to be edging closer to landing the 21-year-old despite the formalities of the finances needing to be ironed out before the deal is completed. Recent reports insist Chelsea are "one step closer" to signing Fernandez as Todd Boehly searches for fresh blood in midfield.
The New Year's Day draw at Nottingham Forest perfectly summarised the frailties within Graham Potter's squad across the board. From a lack of quality in the final third to the struggles to keep the Premier League strugglers quiet, Chelsea are in much need of further reinforcements in January.
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Whilst the groundwork on completing the Fernandez deal continues, a deputy right-back is certainly expected to be on the club's radar amid Reece James' unfortunate injury. The right wing-back was forced off in the Blues' 2-0 win over Bournemouth after sustaining another knee injury and will now miss the next month of action.
Against Forest, 33-year-old Cesar Azpilicueta filled in for James and was ultimately adequate against Brennan Johnson. Despite that, the Chelsea skipper's performance has resulted in desperate calls for a new right-back in January and there would be no surprise should the Blues sign one.
Spanish outlet Marca previously claimed that Chelsea were considering Atletico Madrid's wing-back Nahuel Molina. The 24-year-old, like Fernandez, has attracted interest in his services with his performances at the World Cup, where he started all but one of Argentina's seven games.
Now, journalist Simon Phillips has claimed that Boehly is looking at Molina as a potential deputy to James this month, alongside Bayern Munich's Benjamin Pavard. football.london understands that Chelsea have held interest in the Frenchman since the summer but are yet to make a serious move for him.
As it was under Thomas Tuchel, the wing-backs in Potter's squad play invaluable roles in how he wants them to play. With no out-and-out striker lurking in the opposition box, Chelsea solely rely on the width being created by the likes of James and Ben Chilwell.
However, with the pair out, the lack of quality in those positions is evident in Chelsea's poor form. Whilst there remains plenty of areas for improvement in west London, filling the gaping hole left by James is a must.
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