Chelsea told to sign Manchester City star after Liam Rosenior hint over key transfer change

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Chelsea are set to tweak their transfer model in the upcoming summer window and the club have now been told to consider signing a Manchester City defender

Former Chelsea defender Willian Gallas has underlined the importance of the Blues adding an experienced centre-back this summer and also spoke of why Manchester City star John Stones would be a brilliant addition.

The summer transfer window is set to be another busy one for Chelsea, who are prioritising the signing of a starting-level central defender, football.london understands. It emerged last week that the Blues have tweaked their transfer strategy and will look to add more Premier League proven players to their squad in time for the 2026/27 season.

Ever since BlueCo took over the club almost four years ago, their recruitment model has been youth-centred but there will be a slight alteration to that in the summer. Liam Rosenior hinted as such last week, when asked about the club's plans in the off-season: "Bringing players [in] with emotional stability. Bringing good characters in who, in difficult moments, can understand what it takes to win in those difficult moments.

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"We've had great conversations. I've had conversations with the ownership, with [the sporting] directors about what we want to do in the summer. And we've also had conversations with certain players in the group as well who are really, really happy with the direction that we're going to go in."

If Chelsea are to bring in a more experienced centre-back, then former Blues defender Gallas believes Stones would be an ideal solution at Stamford Bridge. The 31-year-old Man City defender's contract at the Etihad Stadium is due to expire at the end of the season and he continues to be linked with a move elsewhere.

Gallas, speaking to BOYLE Sports, said: "Are Chelsea missing a leader for their defence at centre-back? I have spoken about the problem for many years and I think the people who are in charge of recruiting players, some of them need to be doing a better job.

"They need to understand how important it is to bring experienced players into your squad, especially in your defensive line but also in midfield or in attack. You need experienced players in every line of your team.

"At centre-back, you need experience in the middle of the backline. As a centre-back, you need to have one player who can control, who can speak to his defenders, who can speak to his midfielders and take the pressure on his shoulders."

Gallas continued: "If I have to think of players like Thiago Silva now in the Premier League, I can't find anyone right now. I would put him and John Terry in the same spot even though I didn't play with Thiago Silva but I have seen him and he was just fantastic.

"What does John Stones bring to Chelsea? Leadership, experience and composure. He is calm. He can bring you everything. He looks like he can be the right guy to be the leader of the defence line at centre-back. I think Stones can be a good idea."