Chelsea have signed France defender Benoit Badiashile from Monaco on a seven-and-a-half-year deal, the Premier League club have confirmed.
The 21-year-old has moved to Stamford Bridge for a reported £35 million fee, having made over 100 appearances in Ligue 1 for the Principality side.
He has also played in the Champions League and been capped twice by the French national team, making his debut for Didier Deschamps’ side in a 2-1 win against Austria last September.
Badiashile becomes Chelsea’s third major central-defensive signing this season following the arrivals of Kalidou Koulibaly and Wesley Fofana during the summer transfer window.
“I’m very happy to be here at Chelsea,” Badiashile told the club’s website. “I’m so excited to start playing for this club. I can’t wait to see the fans and start playing in the best league in the world.”
He is the club’s second signing of the January window after striker David Datro Fofana joined from Norwegian side Molde earlier this week.
“We’re delighted to welcome Benoit to Chelsea,” chairman Todd Boehly and co-owner Behdad Eghbali told the club’s website. “He’s an excellent young player who has quickly established a strong reputation for himself and has a huge amount of experience for his young age. We are sure he will form an important part of our team in the years ahead.”
23-man shortlist for next six Hall of Fame inductees
Tony Adams, David Beckham, Dennis Bergkamp, Sol Campbell, Eric Cantona, Andrew Cole, Ashley Cole, Didier Drogba, Les Ferdinand, Rio Ferdinand, Robbie Fowler, Steven Gerrard, Roy Keane, Frank Lampard, Matt Le Tissier, Michael Owen, Peter Schmeichel, Paul Scholes, John Terry, Robin van Persie, Nemanja Vidic, Patrick Viera, Ian Wright.
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
