Leicester City are determined to reject any attempt from Chelsea to sign Ben Chilwell in January if their Fifa transfer ban is successfully appealed at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Lawyers representing the Blues were in Lausanne yesterday for the CAS hearing, but a verdict on whether they will be free to add to their squad in the New Year is not expected until next month.
Chelsea boss Frank Lampard is relaxed about the situation given his team’s fine start to the season, but the club have identified a number of long-term targets with Chilwell seen as a replacement for Marcos Alonso at left-back.
Manchester United and Manchester City are also keeping tabs on the 22-year-old, who has established himself as first choice in Gareth Southgate’s England squad ahead of Euro 2020, but Leicester are thought to be reluctant to sanction a sale. They are in a strong negotiating position given Chilwell is already tied to the club until 2024 having signed a contract extension in October last year and value him in excess of £60million.
They are also believed to be in talks over a fresh deal which would take his wages beyond £100,000 a week, partly in recognition of his rise to prominence at international level but also to stave interest from his potential suitors. Chilwell is not thought to be agitating for a move given Leicester’s ascent to second place in the table.
Fifa were expected to claim their sanction was proportionate to the sheer volume of rule breaches of which Chelsea were found guilty. FIFA claimed 150 rules were broken involving 69 academy players.
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