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Chelsea and Crystal Palace have perfect defender swap fall into their lap

Chelsea want Crystal Palace’s centre back and Palace may want Chelsea’s as a replacement. The solution is obvious.

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Chelsea and Crystal Palace have done a fair bit of business over the last few years, and that doesn’t look like it’s changing anytime soon.

The two clubs are both locked in talks over central defenders that could see them effectively change players. Chelsea insider Simon Phillips’ piece about the Blues’ plans for Trevoh Chalobah reveals all.

Chelsea and Palace have transfer arrangement fall into their lap

The defender was at Palace on loan two years ago and really impressed, before being recalled. Chelsea are now willing to sell permanently, while they’re keen to sign Maxence Lacroix from the Eagles.

The obvious solution is for each to sign the defender from the other. They can even mutually inflate the asking prices as a nice little PSR boost. Of course it’s not easy to pull off, and it would require both players to be keen on the move, but we can well imagine both sides are exploring that idea.

Lacroix was only eliminated at the World Cup last night, while Chalobah is still with England. That has slowed things, but the next couple of weeks will be very interesting.

In other news…

Another experienced Premier League defender could be on the move, with West Ham likely forced into a sale after their relegation.

Christos Tzolis is a major target for Arsenal, and he’s available at what sounds like a pretty reasonable price for a player with that much talent.

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Major worry for Arsenal as important Gunners star goes off injured during France-Spain

Arsenal centre-back William Saliba has gone off injured in the first half of tonight’s World Cup semi-final clash between France and Spain.

The Frenchman was unable to continue as he seemed to have a sudden problem with his back, and he’s been replaced by Maxence Lacroix.

It is not yet clear how serious this injury for Saliba will prove to be, but it’s perhaps not a great sign that he was taken off immediately despite suffering this problem when there wasn’t anyone around him.

Watch below for the moment Saliba simply had to stop playing as he fell to the ground…

i feel so bad for saliba 🙁 pic.twitter.com/E9n3oQCRDm

— ola ! (@bIuezoya) July 14, 2026

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Saliba was a star performer for Arsenal as they won the Premier League title in 2025/26, and he’s been key for France at this World Cup as well.

It remains to be seen if this will now be his final moment at this tournament, with France 1-0 down to Spain at the time of writing, while one imagines there could be doubts over his fitness for the start of the new club season as well.

William Saliba’s injury concerns going into this World Cup

This is not the first time we’ve heard about Saliba having a back problem, as it was reported as being an issue for him ahead of this summer’s World Cup.

The 25-year-old was reported as looking likely to miss the World Cup, as per ESPN, though in the end he was able to take part, at least until this evening’s flare-up.

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Meanwhile, L’Equipe also reported that Saliba may require surgery after the tournament, which could mean a delay to the start of the 2026/27 campaign with Arsenal.

After playing so much football for Arsenal as they won the title and reached two cup finals in the season just gone, it’s not too surprising that it’s all caught up with Saliba a little bit.

AFC supporters will just be hoping this doesn’t mean he’ll be out for a really lengthy period, or they’re surely going to find it very hard to replace him.

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