Chelsea transfer plan includes 'next Ruben Dias' as Enzo Maresca left with £84m dilemma

Chelsea have, seemingly, identified centre-back as the position they are most keen to strengthen in the January transfer window. The Blues have signed four new central defenders over recent windows with Tosin Adarabioyo the latest addition - following in the footsteps of Benoit Badiashile, Axel Disasi and Wesley Fofana.

The summer signing has struggled to break into the starting XI, though, with Fofana and Levi Colwill the preferred partnership right now, although those two are slight injury doubts having returned to Cobham despite them being called up to France and England, respectively.

And yet Benfica defender Tomas Araujo is a new name that has emerged to be of interest to Chelsea and he could become their own version of Manchester City's Ruben Dias - who has thrived in the Premier League since his move to the Etihad Stadium in 2020.

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Elsewhere, Enzo Maresca is facing a positional dilemma in attack - with Noni Madueke and Pedro Neto, seemingly, battling for one spot. Madueke had made the position his own because of his early-season displays, however Neto is firmly making a case to replace him in the starting XI.

Off the bench, he scored the decisive equaliser against Arsenal and has since responded to a strong performance by Madueke for England. With all of that being said, football.london has rounded up the latest Chelsea news and transfer headlines.

Chelsea interested in Tomas Araujo

Transfer guru Fabrizio Romano has revealed Chelsea are keen to sign a centre-back in January with Benfica's Araujo as one of their transfer targets.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Romano said: "Chelsea are actively monitoring the centre-back market. Let's see if it will be January - or summer. In the final days of the summer transfer window Chelsea were considering bringing in a new centre-back.

"One player they love is Tomas Araujo. They were considering a move for him, but so were PSG. Nothing happened because Benfica would not sell an important player. Now I can confirm that Chelsea are monitoring this market and following several players. They are interested in several players in 2025."

football.london says: "There is not a particularly obvious position that Chelsea must recruit next and thus picking and choosing certain deals for specific targets is clearly the plan. With that being said, there are other areas of the pitch that may require more depth.

"However, given the success of the last Benfica centre-back that moved to the Premier League, a deal for Araujo could be very worthwhile. Given their past experience with Enzo Fernandez, though, it's very unlikely a favourable deal is agreed between those two clubs.

"Mid-season moves are also much harder to get over the line with Maresca and Chelsea likely to encounter that problem if they make an approach."

Maresca's Neto and Madueke dilemma

Had it not been for the scintillating display of Curtis Jones, Madueke could have easily been named player of the match in England's Nations League victory over Greece. The Blues star delivered a vintage wide man performance, driving at Kostas Tsimikas on every occasion possible.

One of those direct runs resulted in an assist for Ollie Watkins with Maresca handed a major dilemma for Chelsea's return clash at Leicester. However, Neto answered that performance with some lasting impact of his own as he scored in Portugal's thumping win over Poland.

football.london says: "Although Madueke is still likely Maresca's No.1 choice - given how he has regularly made it clear how much he likes his qualities - Neto is pushing him very hard for that spot on the right.

"In all honestly, though, he has not done enough to keep it especially as Neto continues to make such a significant impact. In the absence of Jadon Sancho, he has played on the left, but his preference is the opposite flank and that would then require Madueke to miss out.

"Ever since his £30million move from PSV, Madueke has shown his quality but consistency has been hard to come by. Neto, meanwhile, following his own £54million switch from Wolves, has had to be patient but is now showing exactly why he was signed with Maresca handed a very welcome dilemma for the trip to the King Power Stadium."