Arsenal’s Riccardo Calafiori and Manchester City’s Josko Gvardiol are among the 11 names that Chelsea are considering to reinforce the centre of defence, according to reports.

Writing on his Substack, journalist Simon Phillips said that the Blues are keen to bring in fresh faces to help strengthen a problem position.

Wesley Fofana has struggled for consistency, and while Levi Colwill’s performances have not been as noticeably poor, his display against Sunderland last weekend was not great.

Combined with the form and fitness struggles of summer signing Maxence Lacroix, there is a clear need to add another centre-half to the squad.

Who are the 11 players on Chelsea’s shortlist?

In addition to Calafiori and Gvardiol, it is believed that long-term targets, Nottingham Forest’s Murillo and Benfica’s Tomas Araujo, are in the mix, along with former Blues star Antonio Rudiger.

Atalanta’s Giorgio Scalvini, AC Milan’s Koni De Winter, Como’s Jacobo Ramon, Real Betis’s Natan, Paris Saint-Germain’s Ilya Zabarnyi and Eintracht Frankfurt’s Nnamdi Collins make up the rest of the names on the list.

Could a centre-back be signed in January?

It is believed that recruiting a new midfielder is the top priority when the transfer window reopens, but Alonso will be keen to fix his leaky defence as soon as possible.

They have conceded 16 goals in 10 Premier League games this season, and if you include the Carabao Cup, it’s 20 in all competitions, which is a very high number at this stage.

Alonso has been trying to stem the tide by making his team harder to beat, but it has come at a cost at the other end of the pitch.

The best solution would be to sign one or more centre-halves who are better suited to his system, and we shall have to wait and see if a bid is made for one of these targets early in the New Year.