Como Advance £26m Bid for Chelsea Defender Trevoh Chalobah Ahead of Champions League Debut
Italian club Como have submitted an improved £26 million bid for Chelsea defender Trevoh Chalobah, with negotiations set to accelerate ahead of the upcoming season. The Serie A side, managed by former Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas, are making a sustained push to secure the 27-year-old center-back after having an earlier offer exceeding £22 million turned down by the West London club.
Chelsea are seeking a package closer to £30 million with an additional £5 million in performance-related add-ons for the English defender, according to reports from talkSPORT and transfer journalist Ben Jacobs. From a financial standpoint, selling a Cobham academy graduate provides significant accounting leverage for Chelsea under the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules. Transfers originating from youth academies are recorded as immediate pure profit on club ledgers, offering balance-sheet flexibility as Stamford Bridge officials continue to sanction incoming investment.
The potential departure comes as Chelsea prepare to finalize a deal for Crystal Palace defender Maxence Lacroix, which is expected to surpass £55 million. The prospective arrival of Lacroix would further compress defensive rotation options under manager Xabi Alonso, accelerating Chelsea’s willingness to consider bids for established squad members.
For Como, the pursuit reflects an ambitious recruitment drive following a historic campaign in which Fabregas guided the Lombardy-based club to a fourth-place finish in Serie A, earning qualification for their first-ever UEFA Champions League campaign. Fabregas, who shared a dressing room with Chalobah at Stamford Bridge when the defender signed his initial professional contract in 2018, has identified his former clubmate as a core target. Como previously leveraged similar Stamford Bridge ties to complete the permanent signing of forward Alvaro Morata.
Chalobah is coming off a landmark individual year in which he logged 47 appearances across all competitions—his highest single-season output for Chelsea—and scored two goals. His consistency during a challenging 2025/26 campaign earned him a late World Cup call-up for England. Having joined Chelsea at age eight, Chalobah signed a long-term contract in 2022 that runs for two more years, with an option to extend for an additional 12 months.
