The signing of a central defender depends on exits and the club have to fund the purchase of a striker and a right-footed winger too. There are two questions to answer on the issue: why Chelsea are pursuing another player in this position at all and what are the ramifications for those centre-backs at the club?

At Chelsea Fofana (67.5%) and Trevoh Chalobah (60.56%) are the others to better Huijsen. The Spaniard’s 59.8% aerial duel success rate places him in the 60-80th percentile among centre-backs, which isn’t the worst but you’d want more from such a tall player. Colwill (59.52%) and Adarabioyo (58.06%) are also in that percentile.

Andoni Iraola says the noise and speculation over Dean Huijsen’s future has not affected the Bournemouth defender in the slightest and the youngster is fully focused on seeing out a strong end to the season.