European champions Chelsea have set their sights on the blue half of Merseyside amid the club’s efforts to secure a short-term replacement for the sidelined Ben Chilwell.

Chilwell’s untimely blow

The subject of personnel woes has of course taken its place front and centre when it comes to the headlines at Stamford Bridge of late.

This comes with Thomas Tuchel and co., at such a crucial point in the campaign, having been forced to deal with a remarkable stretch of bad luck.

Owing to a combination of Covid-19 and injuries, Chelsea have navigated the last month, at one point or another, without all of Romelu Lukaku, Timo Werner, Kai Havertz, N’Golo Kante, Mateo Kovacic, Thiago Silva, Andreas Christensen, Reece James, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Trevoh Chalobah.

Of all of their woes, however, none have hit the Blues quite as hard as the loss of left-wing-back Ben Chilwell.

Just as the English international appeared to have rediscovered his best, an ACL injury picked up during a meeting with Juventus late in November ultimately culminated in Chilwell being ruled out for the remainder of the campaign.

Digne eyed

Chilwell’s absence, in turn, has left Chelsea alarmingly light at left-back, with Marcos Alonso, as things stand, the sole natural senior option at the disposal of Thomas Tuchel.

It therefore shouldn’t come as a huge surprise to hear that, on the back of the winter transfer window swinging open over the weekend, the transfer chiefs at Stamford Bridge have begun seeking out reinforcements.

And now, late on Monday night, confirmation of exactly which player the Blues have set their sights on has been forthcoming.

The left-back in question? Lucas Digne.

Everton star Digne is of course currently out in the cold at Goodison Park, banished to the bench owing to a falling out with under-fire Toffees boss Rafael Benitez last month.

And Chelsea are evidently keen to take advantage of the situation, with the reliable Matt Law of the Daily Telegraph having confirmed that Tuchel and co. have set their sights firmly on a swoop for the Frenchman.

The stuttering giants of English football are understood to be hopeful of bringing Digne in on loan this month, to act as emergency cover for Chilwell, and battle it out with Alonso for starting duties.

It now remains to be seen whether their Everton counterparts – who have already brought in left-back reinforcements of their own this month in the form of Vitaliy Mykolenko – are open to such an operation.

Chelsea are looking into the potential loan signing of Lucas Digne as cover for the injured Ben Chilwell. [Matt Law- Telegraph] #CFC

— CFCDaily (@CFCDaily) January 3, 2022

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