Owen Hargreaves has urged Chelsea to rival Liverpool in the race to sign Marc Guehi after their 3-1 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday evening.
Enzo Maresca’s side were two down in the first half following Trevoh Chalobah’s own goal and Harry Kane’s penalty before Cole Palmer pulled one back. But Kane struck again with an excellent finish to seal Bayern’s win at the Allianz Arena.
Bayern had more chances to extend their lead with Chelsea’s defence struggling to cope as the game progressed.
Liverpool, meanwhile, came close to signing Guehi in the closing stages of the summer transfer window but could not get their deal over the line with Crystal Palace after a £35m fee was agreed.
Guehi, who came through Chelsea’s academy, could be available on a free transfer next summer when his contract with Palace expires.
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Liverpool remain frontrunners to sign the England international but Hargreaves believes Guehi would make an immediate improvement to Chelsea’s defence.
‘If I think back to those Chelsea teams that won everything, they had Petr Cech, Carvalho, John Terry – that’s the basis of any team,’ Hargreaves told TNT Sports.
‘I think the midfield three is almost as good as anyone – Enzo [Fernandez], [Moises] Caicedo and Cole Palmer – but I still think they’ll probably address that in the coming windows. I think there’s a nucleus there that’s going to be really special for Chelsea and today just highlighted that.
‘It’s not a criticism, it’s just a fact and I thought the two young centre-backs did okay but we’re talking about [Luis] Diaz, [Michael] Olise and Kane, some of the top performers, it was a big ask for them but mistakes cost them more than anything.
‘But I do think if they can address that centre-back position, even though they’ve got [Wesley] Fofana and [Levi] Colwill, two fabulous players, I think they need a little bit more experience as one of those players.’
Former Chelsea winger Joe Cole then said: ‘I go back to it and I’ve been banging the drum for it, if you had senior central defender in that group.’
Hargreaves replied: ‘Marc Guehi… I know he was a Chelsea academy boy but somebody like that, super reliable, you can just pop him in, mentor the young boys.
‘I think having these young guys is amazing but having a mentor, we all had them as young kids coming through, I think probably need that Thiago Silva type, maybe a bit younger, just to help these young guys in a game like this, away from home in Munich where it’s very challenging.’
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