Chelsea’s new-look back four is solid but there’s still one concern for Xabi Alonso

Fast forward to the present, Colwill is fully fit again and now has a new centre-back partner, Maxence Lacroix.

Alongside Reece James and either one of Jorrel Hato or Pep Chavarria, that is a pretty solid backline. With that being said, there will be some doubts about Hato and Chavarria in the left-back position.

Do you want to see Pep Chavarria, Marco Palestra or Jorrel Hato at left-back next season?

Chavarria didn’t do a bad job in the Conference League final against Crystal Palace

No guarantee Jorrel Hato and Pep Chavarria will be successes in 2026/27 season

Chelsea are confident that Hato can succeed Marc Cucurella, who joined Real Madrid earlier in the summer.

However, watching Hato last season, the 20-year-old looked much more confident and assured in the centre-back position. His best games for Chelsea came there.

Hato can certainly do a job in the left-back role. He has been deployed there enough times in his career to understand what is required in that area of the pitch.

But defensively, the Dutchman is not as solid as Cucurella. As for Chavarria, there are some similarities between him and Cucurella, but the Rayo Vallecano man has never played in the Premier League before.

Ultimately, while Chelsea’s new-look defence has the potential to be a very sturdy backline as a whole, we really do not know what we are going to get from Hato and Chavarria yet.

Hopefully it does not become the case, but left-back could be pinpointed as a possible weakness in this Chelsea side, that and the goalkeeper position.

Robert Sanchez made some high-profile mistakes last season, but he could be replaced by Porto’s Diogo Costa.

It has been claimed that Chelsea are holding discussions to sign Costa. Chelsea are also thought to be closing in on Chavarria, so the Spaniard and Hato look set to be Xabi Alonso’s two left-back options in the new campaign.