Chelsea aim to ‘steal’ Barcelona star after Levi Colwill injury as Romano confirms plans

Chelsea have been linked with a move for Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo following news of a serious injury to Levi Colwill, while Fabrizio Romano has also weighed in on the situation.

Chelsea have confirmed that English centre-back Colwill has had to undergo surgery on an ACL injury. He suffered the injury in training after returning to Cobham on Monday.

The injury is a major blow to Enzo Maresca’s plans as Colwill is a first-team regular, having made 43 appearances last season.

Colwill played an important role as Chelsea won both the Europa Conference League and Club World Cup while also qualifying for the Champions League.

The 22-year-old is set to miss a majority of the new season, just like Tottenham Hotspur midfielder James Maddison, who has suffered a similar problem.

Ahead of Chelsea’s pre-season fixture against Bayer Leverkusen, Maresca was asked about the potential signing of a replacement. He replied: “It depends. We need to wait and then we’ll see.

“We know each other from last year and you know in our way how important Levi has been.

“I spoke with him (on Wednesday) and I told him if we achieve what we achieved last year, it’s also because of him. He was a main player for us.”

According to Spanish source Fichajes, Chelsea hope to ‘steal’ Araujo from Barca as Colwill’s replacement.

It is claimed that Chelsea recruitment chiefs have discussed several defenders and Araujo’s profile ‘stands out’.

Barca are said to be open to a €50million (£43m) sale, despite the fact his contract runs until June 2031 and the fact Inigo Martinez is on the cusp of joining Al-Nassr.

Chelsea view Araujo as an ‘ideal opportunity’ to improve their backline, believing he has the physicality and defensive nous to shut out Premier League strikers.

Although, Romano has attempted to cool such speculation. He reports that ‘Chelsea have not activated any immediate emergency plan’ to land a new centre-half after Colwill’s injury.

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Chelsea have ‘full trust’ in the current squad, especially now that Jorrel Hato has arrived at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea signed Hato from Ajax in a £37m deal recently. The Dutchman is similar to Colwill as he is left-footed and can play as either a central defender or left-back.

Hato is very highly rated by scouts across Europe, demonstrated by the fact Liverpool and Arsenal tried to sign him before Chelsea won the race.

Interestingly, Araujo is not the Barca player to have been linked with Chelsea in recent days.

A report has suggested Chelsea are preparing a £52m bid to sign a Barca midfielder before Manchester United.

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