Badiashile’s Napoli Struggle Puts Chelsea’s £23m Option at Risk

Chelsea could miss out on Napoli’s £23m option to sign Benoit Badiashile permanently after the defender’s limited start in Italy, though the decision is not yet made.

Napoli’s £23m option is looking harder to reach

Football London reports that Napoli paid Chelsea a £2.5m loan fee for Badiashile’s 2026/27 campaign and have the option to make the move permanent for £23m next summer. That would bring a sizeable transfer fee for a defender the Blues could not sell during the summer window.

But the early signs are not encouraging. Badiashile has played just once since arriving in Naples, and the available reporting says Massimiliano Allegri has doubts about him. Chelsea supporters have seen the risk of a potential transfer windfall slipping away before, with Tyrique George’s future also tied to another club’s decision.

Allegri has not used Badiashile since his debut. The defender remained on the bench against Arsenal, Bologna and Fiorentina, according to the account of his early Napoli spell.

Badiashile needs minutes to make the option realistic

The 10-minute cameo came in Napoli’s 3-2 defeat to Inter Milan on September 5. Marcus Thuram outjumped Badiashile for Inter’s second goal, and the Chelsea loanee was also partly blamed for the winner at the San Siro.

It is a difficult start for a player Chelsea hoped to move on permanently in the summer. Badiashile showed promise after joining from Monaco in January 2023, but injuries and individual mistakes contributed to a spell in England that never matched those early expectations.

Alonso was given a four-year contract and the manager’s role rather than that of head coach when Chelsea appointed him. He was heavily involved in most of the club’s summer arrivals and played a major part in the clear-out after a disappointing 2025/26 campaign, with Badiashile among those deemed surplus to requirements.

Chelsea brought in 10 first-team players over the summer and spent a club-record £117m on Morgan Rogers. The scale of that reshaping makes a permanent exit for Badiashile useful, but the £23m is not guaranteed: Napoli only pay it if they choose to exercise the option. The Blues’ summer squad reduction has already involved difficult calls; this one still needs a sporting outcome in the player’s favour.

For now, the fee remains a possibility, not money Chelsea can count on. Badiashile will need to earn a more regular role over the remainder of the loan if Napoli are to consider keeping him, while the primary report says the early indications point towards a return to Stamford Bridge next summer. There is time for that picture to change, and Napoli have not confirmed a decision on the option.

In other news…

Chelsea’s summer business put a premium on player departures as well as arrivals, and the club’s transfer sales record offers wider context for why potential fees matter.

Alonso has had a major say in reshaping the squad, but this loan now depends on Badiashile convincing Allegri on the pitch. Chelsea cannot treat the option as a completed sale.