The full-back position at Chelsea is a bit of a concern before the second half of the season (and beyond).

Ben Chilwell may miss the rest of the season (and possibly beyond) if it is decided he needs surgery, while Marcos Alonso has faded badly since pressure on him to return to the service. Meanwhile, on the right, it appears that Cesar Azpilicueta no longer has the legs for the role. Azbe’s contract also expires at the end of the season, while Alonso has one year left.

Basically, a solution will probably be needed for the second half of the season – I’m not optimistic about Chilwell despite his choosing not to have immediate ACL surgery – which is certainly needed for the next season and beyond – and ACL recovery is not always straightforward, Even these days with modern medical and rehabilitation procedures.

In this scenario he steps in a report from Express, which I usually ignore because it’s Express, but the speculation makes sense given this situation.

Their report claims Chelsea are “planning a £30m transfer” for Serginho Dest, who joined Barcelona 18 months ago, but it looks like he could be redundant after the first season and excellent but not so far – especially as it could be used to raise funds to help balance The books and a €50 million Ferran Torres deal are at stake.

Bayern Munich is also said to be interested in the 21-year-old US international, who is a nominal right-back, but also comfortable on the left side. Dest came through the Ajax academy before his move to Barcelona earned him €20-25 million. He played against Chelsea two years ago, when we were drawn to the same Champions League group (although he didn’t take part in the 4-4 Madness match at Bridge, when we were introduced to Hakim Ziyech).

Anyway, that’s only idle speculation at this point, but a signing like Dest would be fairly plausible and potentially solve multiple problems for the team – now and in the future (even if we assume that another full back of Reece James’ level is out of the academy soon) .