Chelsea play dangerous game with Marc Guehi transfer as swap offer ‘considered’

Chelsea are playing a dangerous game with Crystal Palace after changing the transfer parameters around their pursuit of . The west London giants are desperate to sign the centre-back, who has starred for the Eagles since joining them from the Blues three-and-a-half years ago.

Guehi was last summer after excelling for England during the Three Lions’ run to the final.

But now appear to be leading the race for his signature and could get a deal done before the end of the January transfer window.

According to the , held high-level talks over the capture of Guehi in early January but the move stumbled over concerns of the overall cost of landing the defender.

There was a feeling that an offer in the region of £45million to £50m would have been enough to get Palace to the negotiating table. But Blues chiefs considered including Trevoh Chalobah in the deal to get a discount.

loaned Chalobah to Palace at the start of the campaign after he was deemed surplus to requirements at Stamford Bridge. And the 25-year-old enjoyed an outstanding first half of the season at the heart of the Eagles defence alongside Guehi.

Chalobah emerged as a pawn in talks between the two clubs, with mulling over the option of bringing the star back to west London early to solve their defensive crisis.

In the end, did indeed recall Chalobah, with forced to deal with the absence of Wesley Fofana, who could miss the rest of the season with a hamstring injury.

The Italian is also unable to call on Benoit Badiashile at the moment as the Frenchman currently has a thigh issue.

’s reluctance to pay Palace the fee they are after for Guehi could annoy the Selhurst Park club, with plenty of other teams also interested in Guehi at the right price. And the Blues’ decision to deny Palace Chalobah for the rest of the season may have also damaged the transfer process.

So the five-time champions will need to be careful when they approach the subject once again with Palace chiefs. And Maresca won’t want his bosses to scupper his pursuit of a player who could make an instant impact across the capital.

have enjoyed a decent season under the former Leicester boss and did appear to be in the title race a month ago. But an underwhelming run of results since mid-December means they are now 10 points behind leaders . And their focus now could just be based around securing a top four finish to cement their return to the Champions League.