With a new signing comes the clamour to get them on the back of a shirt. With Benoit Badiashile drawing ever closer to becoming a Chelsea player, a £32.7million deal agreed with Monaco, the 21-year-old may well be wearing a blue shirt in the coming weeks.
Add him to David Datro Fofana, who was announced last week, and the possibly addition of Enzo Fernandez later in the window and there is reason for excitement when it comes to seeing new players. Andrey Santos is also just an announcement away from being a Chelsea player.
Badiashile is now set for his medical ahead of signing a major six-and-a-half-year contract at Stamford Bridge and will be available for Graham Potter's selection soon after signing, with Fofana and Santos both likely to be heading back out on loan.
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With that in mind there will have to be a decision made over what number Badiashile eventually wears on his Chelsea kit. The summer exodus of defenders has opened up room for some of the lower numbers be taken over with Antonio Rudiger's No.2 available, as is Marcos Alonso's No.3.
Kalidou Koulibaly took over from John Terry with the famous No.26 shirt in the summer whilst Gianfranco Zola's retired No.25 jersey is still left alone.
When it comes to Badiashile's own history he has been wearing No.5 in France for two-and-a-half-seasons already. He previously wore No.32 and at times No.4 and No.15. 32 was taken late in the window by Marc Cucurella whilst 15 is currently vacant.
No.5 is worn by Jorginho, though he may well be leaving in six months at the end of his contract. The No.4 shirt hasn't been worn since Andreas Christensen left in the summer. For France Badiashile has worn No.18 but that is currently occupied by Armando Broja.
Squad numbers currently available to Benoit Badiashile: 2, 3, 4, 11, 15, 27, 31.
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