The Athletic journalist Simon Johnson has assessed the centre-back problem at Chelsea ahead of the January transfer window.
The West London club have a bloated squad after failing to offload a defender in the summer.
The Athletic believe that the experienced Thiago Silva is a nailed-on starter and Kurt Zouma is expected to stay at Stamford Bridge but the futures of Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen and Fikayo Tomori are all questioned.
So, Blues boss Frank Lampard is stuck with five centre-backs.
Ideally, Lampard would allow one centre-back to leave the club in January.
