£39m Chelsea transfer would hint at Thomas Tuchel's Reece James plan to aid Romelu Lukaku exit

Following the departures of Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger, it's clear Chelsea have a shortage in the centre-back department. The Blues have four senior options to call upon from last season's squad in Thiago Silva, Trevoh Chalobah, Cesar Azpilicueta and Malang Sarr.

With a relentless fixture schedule compounded by a World Cup break, four players for three spots would appear light in a position before even acknowledging the quality the Blues have lost in the position. Of course, Chelsea plan on completing transfers to enhance their depth, and Levi Colwill could come into the reckoning, but a further option would be for Thomas Tuchel to look at a change of system.

The German coach has acknowledged the results of the summer transfer window could influence his decision but his comments after the final match of the Premier League season seemed to suggest his preference would be to maintain the three central defenders he has utilised since taking charge at Stamford Bridge.

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Tuchel said: "I don't know if it would be a chance or another shift. I don't think it's a problem of structure that we have because we delivered in this structure at a very high level with our performances. But we are looking in every direction. I think the structure suits our players very well with the players you mentioned, but also with Thiago Silva, our midfielders, Reece James and Ben Chilwell because they have more freedom to attack on both sides.

"There were some reasons to play this structure in the way we played it and we were very successful and at a high level very stable. It's not the plan to change it but maybe we are forced to. It's no