Chelsea’s £75m-rated France right-back is open to a January exit, but selling him only works if Palestra comes good

Malo Gusto is open to leaving Chelsea in January, and he has let the club know. Not many Blues fans will be upset, but selling him before the right-back picture settles could leave Xabi Alonso short.

The France international hasn’t started a Premier League match in nearly two months. Reports suggest he has made his view known internally, and amicably, and he is weighing up his options before the window opens.

That is quite a fall for a player Chelsea valued at £75m in the summer. Nobody came near that figure then, and nobody will now.

Why has Gusto fallen out of the side?

It isn’t about settling in. Gusto knows the club, the league and what is expected. The problem is his level: you get one good game out of him in ten, and even that depends on the opponent and the role he is asked to play.

Keep the job simple and he can do it. Under Mauricio Pochettino he had one clear task, and with licence to push forward without too much defending to do, he gives you an extra body in attack. Ask him to invert into midfield and it falls apart. For a lot of supporters, that was the moment they gave up on him.

As a late option, someone to come on for 20 minutes and cause a bit of havoc down the right, he still has his uses. He did exactly that in the 1-0 defeat at Sunderland, bringing energy off the bench even if it didn’t change the result. But he isn’t technically good enough for an elite side, and he leaves holes behind him.

Reece James and Palestra hold the key

Here’s the catch. Reece James is injured again, and his fitness has become impossible to trust. It’s the same problem Chelsea keep coming back to, time and time again.

Marco Palestra is the other option, and right now he’s one big question mark. The idea of him is exciting. The reality so far is a full-back who rushes his decisions, puts himself in trouble and gives the ball away too often. The speed of the Premier League still seems to be catching him out, which is partly why we left him out of our Chelsea XI at Sunderland.

None of that makes Gusto good. It means Chelsea have one full-back still adjusting and another who has adjusted but simply isn’t at the level. In the short term, Gusto offers slightly more than Palestra does, and that is the only real argument for keeping him.

Can Palestra follow Chavarria’s path?

There is a precedent. Pep Chavarria needed a few games to find his feet on the left, then adapted quickly and now looks like an option Chelsea can rely on. Palestra deserves the same patience, although our gut feeling is that his adjustment will take longer.

It’s also fair to remember that big questions remain over how Alonso wants his side to play. That affects every player in the squad, not just the full-backs, so not all of this is on them.

What is Gusto worth in January?

£75m was taking the mick. Around £50m is realistic, and a club willing to structure the payments could get there. If Chelsea open at £75m but are prepared to meet somewhere in the middle, a deal is there to be done.

If they dig in at £75m and refuse to budge, forget it. Gusto will stay at Stamford Bridge for as long as his contract runs, and a fee in the region of £50m would be far more use to a club whose January plans already stretch to midfield.

Verdict: sell Gusto, but one out means one in

If January arrives with James fit and Palestra settled, let Gusto go and rotate the other two, taking it steady with James. That would leave Chelsea covered on the right, much as Chavarria’s emergence has done on the left.

If Palestra is still making mistakes and James is still in the treatment room, Chelsea can’t sell without a replacement lined up. Then it has to be one out, one in.

Will Gusto play better somewhere else? Probably. But at Chelsea we haven’t seen a good enough version of him, and a fair fee should be enough to close this chapter.