Chelsea suffer Badiashile injury blow but Liverpool and Manchester City target could benefit

Benoit Badiashile is set to undergo surgery after picking up an injury in training that ruled him out of the Manchester City defeat over the weekend and might rule him out of the start of next season.

The 22-year-old joined Chelsea in January from Monaco as a man with a growing reputation and even though he’s had a decent start to life in southwest London, his latest injury might see him miss out on working with incoming manager Mauricio Pochettino in preseason.

The former Tottenham manager will be handed the keys to Stamford Bridge having verbally agreed to take over from caretaker boss Frank Lampard.

Badiashile has played 11 games and has a goal to his name but it is his ball-playing ability that has impressed fans at Stamford Bridge and his latest blow could open the door to returning Levi Colwill who has stared at Brighton.

Colwill is a left-footer and has enjoyed a brilliant season with Brighton who have qualified for European football for the first time in their history, he will get the chance to impress the new boss instantly with injury to Badiashile.

The 20-year-old Colwill has been linked with Manchester City and Liverpool as his ability to play under pressure and maturity at his age has caught the attention of some of the biggest teams in the land.

Chelsea have as many as 32 first-team players and they will have to reduce the numbers in the squad but with key players like Mason Mount, Reece James, and N’Golo Kante all still out and running against time to be fit for pre-season, Pochettino will hope he has better luck when it comes to keeping players out of the treatment table than his predecessor.