Chelsea reluctant to sign replacement for injured Colwill

Chelsea remain reluctant to enter the market for a centre-back despite Levi Colwill's serious knee injury.

The Blues have targetted attackers for the end of the summer but have not yet decided to replace Colwill, 23, after he had surgery on his anterior cruciate ligament this week.

In an interview on Friday with DAZN after the 2-0 pre-season win at Stamford Bridge over Bayer Leverkusen, manager Enzo Maresca said replacing Colwill was a "priority", but the plan remains to use players from inside the squad.

Both Benoit Badiashile, currently injured but expected to be back from injury in September, and Josh Acheampong are keen to play more minutes.

Acheampong, 19, has also been attracting interest from Premier League clubs but Chelsea's stance is that he is not for sale as his stock remains very high internally. He is also now very unlikely to go out on loan.

Chelsea already have Tosin Adarabioyo, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah and new signing Jorrel Hato who can play centre-back.

Meanwhile, Renato Veiga remains available for sale and is training with the so-called 'bomb squad' - a group of players including Raheem Sterling and Ben Chilwell - away from the first team.

There remains a slight possibility Chelsea enter the market but it would require the sale of Chalobah - the only defender they are open to selling - with an exciting opportunity also needing to present itself on the market.

But Chalobah is not pushing to leave Stamford Bridge despite some uncertainty around his future.

Similarly, Reece James and Marc Cucurella could also play at centre-back in emergency circumstances.

In attack, Chelsea's main targets remain Manchester United winger Alejandro Garnacho and RB Leipzig midfielder Xavi Simons with early talks having been made with both players.

Their arrival depends on the ability to agree fees with both clubs alongside exits for attacking duo Nicolas Jackson and Christopher Nkunku - who were left out of the squad against Leverkusen.