The Blues are chasing a Crystal Palace starter and a Serie A standout as they look to rebuild from the back this summer.
Chelsea’s summer business is starting to take shape at the back. The club is pursuing at least one, possibly two, centre-backs ahead of the 2026-27 season, with Crystal Palace’s Maxence Lacroix identified as the primary target and Como’s Jacobo Ramon serving as a complementary option.
Transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano confirmed that Chelsea has already initiated contact over a Lacroix deal, placing the 26-year-old Frenchman above Ramon in their defensive pecking order.
Lacroix is the main event
Lacroix joined Crystal Palace from Wolfsburg in August 2024, and contributed to Palace’s FA Cup triumph, cementing his status as one of the more reliable defenders in the Premier League.
The reported fee sits in the range of £47 to £47.5 million. Reports indicate that Trevoh Chalobah could be involved as part of a player-plus-cash structure, which would help Chelsea manage the net spend while clearing a player who was never quite going to break into the first team consistently.
Ramon: the long-term bet
Jacobo Ramon is a very different proposition. The 21-year-old spent last season at Como in Serie A, racking up 37 appearances under manager Cesc Fabregas. Where Lacroix represents the ready-made option, Ramon fits more neatly into the profile of a developmental acquisition: younger, cheaper, higher ceiling.
The timing of Chelsea’s interest, with contacts traced to late June and ongoing developments rolling into early July, suggests this is not exploratory noise. Whether Crystal Palace, fresh off an FA Cup win, agrees to sell a key defensive piece at a fee Chelsea considers fair is the real open question here.
