Journalist explains why Chelsea winter signing joined the London club despite links to Manchester United and Liverpool

Chelsea had to fend off interest from a host of European rivals, including Liverpool and Manchester United, to complete the signing of Benoit Badiashile from Monaco in the winter window.

Two months after the transfer, football journalist Jonathan Johnson has explained why the centre-back chose the Blues despite interest from their Premier League rivals.

Co-owner Todd Boehly splashed the cash to lure several high-profile players to Stamford Bridge during the winter, including the likes of Joao Felix, Enzo Fernandez, and Mykhailo Mudryk. Badiashile also arrived at the club for a fee of €40 million.

The French centre-back has already played five matches for the Blues across all competitions and it's fair to say that his adaptation is going smoothly.

Writing in his column for CaughtOffside, journalist Jonathan Johnson explained what attracted the defender to choose the Blues amid interest from Manchester United and Liverpool. He wrote:

“In terms of links with other Premier League clubs like Liverpool and Manchester United, I think Chelsea’s focus on recruiting some of the best young talents in Europe at the moment for a project that will be medium to long term at the very least, I think that proved very attractive to Badiashile."

"Chelsea are also offering famously long contracts to their players in order to make the overall transfer value a bit lower. So I think Badiashile was won over by Chelsea and he’s proven a shrewd piece of business. He still looked like he had room for improvement at Monaco, but he’s progressing well and I think he’s going to be an influential player for them for a long time.”

Johnson hails Benoit Badiashile's promising start to life at Chelsea

Badiashile in action for the Blues.

After seeing the Frenchman impress in the few opportunities he's been granted by Blues boss Graham Potter since his arrival, Johnson hailed the Frenchman's impact at the heart of the defense. He said:

“Benoit Badiashile has really impressed me with the way he’s started at Chelsea. “He’s performed really well when he’s played but it’s not been the perfect start at Chelsea because I don’t think he’ll have expected not to be part of their Champions League squad, which can only contain three signings made in the middle of the season."

Johnson continued:

“Personally, I think that might have been a bit short-sighted by Chelsea, but of course, they’re now into the quarter-finals so let’s wait and see how Graham Potter fares in the competition. It wouldn’t have been easy leaving out Joao Felix, Mykhaylo Mudryk, or Enzo Fernandez either but I do think Badiashile would have been a valuable addition to the squad."