Chelsea loanee Emerson Palmieri has now seemingly changed his stance on a potential return to England despite initial feelings that he would prefer a Lyon stay despite Thomas Tuchel's demand.
Left-back is an area of particular weakness for the Blues at the moment, with Marcos Alonso currently Thomas Tuchel's only out-and-out wing-back option on that side.
Ben Chilwell was in the midst of a fine run of form when he suffered a ruptured cruciate ligament against Juventus before Christmas, leaving his manager searching for answers.
Everton defender Lucas Digne was reported to be on the club's radar but an initial interest was not pursued any further as other more short-term options were preferred.
One of those options is to recall Emerson Palmieri from his current loan spell in France with Lyon, but with no such clause in the agreement that is proving tricky.
football.london understands that Chelsea have had a compensation offer in the region of £3 million rejected by the Ligue 1 side already and whether they improve that remains to be seen.
But the west Londoners now have the advantage in this said negotiations with the player in question reportedly changing his stance on a potential recall to fill in for the European Champions until the end of the season.
This is according to to French outlet RMC Sport who have reported that the Italian international now 'wants' a return to his parent club this month, which will come as a huge boost to Tuchel, who has already admitted his desire to see the player he let go comeback.
On top of this, fellow outlet Le10Sport added more context to the situation with their update which read: 'Emerson would like Lyon to agree to let him return to Chelsea. His advisers are trying to lead discussions in this direction.'
"I will not give you any details but I will not hide from the fact that we have a long-term injury with Ben Chilwell as our left wing-back, he will miss the whole season. We know Em and appreciate Em as a player and a person," Tuchel said.
"He had such a huge influence – even though he didn't have a lot of minutes last season – because he is a top guy and a top professional. He is still a Chelsea player but it is not only what I wish for, we need to evaluate the situation.
"We are looking into it on this position and he is one of the options. I will not comment further."
This fresh update could now rule out a January swoop for both Sergino Dest and Layvin Kurzawa, with the former of the pair only likely to sign if Marina Granovskaia and co deem Tuchel also needs cover for Reece James until the end of the season.
