With Wesley Fofana set to be out for the rest of the season, Chelsea have been linked with a move for Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi in the January transfer window.

After a fantastic start to the season, Chelsea have lost some momentum in recent weeks, going four games without a win in the Premier League and moving 10 points behind league leaders Liverpool. Frustratingly for the Blues, Fofana may be out for the rest of the season after forming a strong partnership with Levi Colwill, and the fresh injury worry could tempt Enzo Maresca into bringing a new defender to the club this month.

After being heavily linked with a move away from Crystal Palace in the summer, Guehi has now been linked with a move to Chelsea. Palace rejected a £65million bid from Newcastle for their captain in the summer, so it would likely cost more to bring the former Chelsea academy player back to Stamford Bridge in January.

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So, if Chelsea were to sign Guehi this month, how could he perform? Let's take a look.

Rest of Chelsea's 2024/25 season simulated with Marc Guehi

To set up this simulation, we used Football Manager 2024 to move Guehi to Chelsea in the January transfer window before simulating the rest of the 2024/25 season. This is how the Blues performed with the defender in their squad.

Guehi was instantly thrown into the Chelsea starting XI, with the England international quickly settling into his role alongside Colwill in defence. In his first six months with the Blues, Guehi established himself as one of Maresca's most important players, starting 18 games across all competitions.

In those 18 games, Guehi averaged a rating of 7.38 per game, higher than any defender at the club and only outdone by Moises Caicedo (7.43) and Cole Palmer (7.83). Reece James once again struggled for fitness, with Malo Gusto and Marc Cucurella the two full-backs joining Guehi and Colwill in defence more than not.

At the end of the 2024/25 season, Football Manager 2024 put together an overall best Chelsea XI, based on performances, statistics, and other metrics. This is what it looked like:

Full Chelsea best XI: (4-2-3-1): Sanchez; Gusto, Guehi, Colwill, Cucurella; Enzo, Caicedo; Neto, Palmer, Sancho; Jackson.

As expected, Guehi was part of Chelsea's best XI, with Robert Sanchez starting behind him in goal. Jadon Sancho and Pedro Neto also made the squad, with the latter scoring 10 goals in his final 10 games of the season.

With Guehi in the squad, Chelsea instantly improved defensively – in fact, they ended the Premier League campaign with the best defensive record. The Blues only lost one league game after the defender signed, but it was the draws that eventually let them down in their league title hunt.

22 wins, 11 draws and five defeats saw Chelsea finish the season in third with 77 points, 12 off Liverpool in first, and comfortably 17 points ahead of Newcastle United in fifth. Chelsea weren't bad in the cups either, with Maresca winning his first trophy as Chelsea boss in the simulation.

A 3-0 win over Fiorentina saw the Blues lift the Conference League for the first time in their history, with Chelsea winning every game possible in the competition. A strong FA Cup run also saw Chelsea reach the semi-finals at Wembley, but they fell to a 2-1 loss against eventual winners Nottingham Forest.