Ben Chilwell is going to be allowed to leave Chelsea in January. If the Bees could afford him or sign him on a loan with an obligation to buy, he could relieve Frank of the need to play the likes of forward Keane Lewis-Potter as a left wing-back.

With Chelsea competing at the top of the table under head coach Enzo Maresca and being in the title race, despite their public protestations to the contrary, a new signing or two could make the difference.

Chelsea will soon be in the midst of their first January transfer window under Enzo Maresca and his first port of call should be obvious

Marc Cucurella and Malo Gusto are the only other senior full-back options. Cucurella has played a huge amount of football given Spain’s run to win Euro 2024, while Gusto has picked up plenty of niggles over an impressive 18 months at Stamford Bridge.