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Chelsea sent scouts to watch £20m Premier League defender beat Tottenham this week

Charles Jones

Fri 6 December 2024 12:45, UK Updated Sat 7 December 2024 9:08, UK

• EXCLUSIVE with Graeme Bailey

Chelsea have been much-improved this season under Enzo Maresca.

The Blues are comfortably in the top four as things stand, and theꦬy could still kick o🌃n to become title contenders

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	LiverpoolLiverpool	14	11	2	1	29	11	18	35
2	ChelseaChelsea	14	8	4	2	31	15	16	28
3	ArsenalArsenal	14	8	4	2	28	14	14	28

However, there ar🥀e a few areas of the squad that need shoring up if the west London club are to kick on.

🧜Ian Wright recently said Chelsea need a new centre-𒊎back, 💛and, luckily, the Blues are trying to address that situation.

Indeed, Chelsea scouted one of the Premier League’s most𓆏 promising centre-backs this week.

• READ MORE: Tim Sherwood names the Chel🧜sea player whose passing is genuinely awful at times

Chelsea scouts left impressed by Ilya Zabarnyi

TBR Football can reveal that Chelsea checked on Bournemouth defender Ilya Zabarnyi on Thursday evening as The Cherries beat Tottenham Hotspur.

The Blues are in the m⛎arket for central defender reinforcements in 2025 as they are understood to be unconvinced by their options after first choice pair Levi Co🐬lwill and Wesley Fofana.

As such, Chelsea have been doing their work on other possibilities which have included watching Benfica pair Tomas Araujo and Antonio Silva, RB Leipzig star Castello Lukeba, Crystal Palace’s Marc Gu💙ehi and Lens’ Abdukodir Khusanov in recent weeks.

Chelsea also have a long-standing interest in Barcelona pair Ronald Araujo and Jules Kounde, but they are making sure they have a clear picture of the best options avail♈able and that includes Premier League candidates.

We can reveal t🎶hat Ukraine defender Zabarnyi is also oꦇn Chelsea’s radar.

They hꦫave been tracking the 22-year-old since before he moved🌼 to the Vitality Stadium for in 2023.

Zabarn✨yi is one of a number of Bournemouth players who are shining under Andoni Iraola and Chelsea are paying close attention.

Chelsea have a good relations with Bournemouth following the summer deal which saw Kepa move on-loan and they are in attendance regularly watching their Spanish property, but they have taken the chance to assess Zabarnyi and TBR Football is told they have been i💖mpressed with the Ukraine international.

Ilya Zabarnyi stats against Tottenham

Chels💮ea were impressed by Zabarnyi’s performance against Tottenham thi𒆙s week, and for good reason.

Bournemouth were solid against ♚Spurs on Thursday in their 1-0 win, and Zabarnyi was a standout performer in this game.

Zabarnyi barely put a foot wrong in t🏅he match, and the stats show case this.

Zabarnyi wasn’t necessarily all-actio🎐n against Spurs, but he read the game brilliantly, with three interceptions on the night.

The Ukrainian is a young man with bags of potential, and 🥃it feels as th🌌ough it may be a matter of time before a big club comes calling.

Zabarnyi was strongly linked to Tottenham before his move to Bournemouth. Ironically, it’s the defender’s performance against Spurs 🎃that leftꦦ Chelsea scouts impressed.

Chelsea are well-positioned to do a deal with𝓀 Bournemouth after cultivating a good relationship over the s♍ummer while concluding the loan deal for Kepa.