Chelsea eye wing‑back solution as Quenda gains early edge

Chelsea are eyeing a versatile wing‑back to fill a tactical gap under new manager Xabi Alonso, and Geovany Quenda appears poised to answer that call. The Portuguese forward has already endured a broken fifth metatarsal that sidelined him for four months, yet he has spent the interim on biweekly English lessons and intensive physical work.

[Getty Images] Geovany Quenda has had a lengthy lead‑in to his move to Chelsea, spending his time at biweekly English lessons and building physical strength to adapt to the demands of the Premier League through additional training and nutritional work. He also focused on nutritional work to meet the physical standards of the Premier League.

However, after working to ensure he finished his final season at Sporting strongly, he suffered a broken fifth metatarsal that kept him sidelined for four months. Sporting finished second in the league and lost the cup final to minnows Torreense.

During his recovery, Quenda completed much of his rehabilitation at Chelsea's Cobham training ground, where he spoke regularly with then‑manager Liam Rosenior and compatriots Pedro Neto and Dario Essugo. He also quietly attended matches at Stamford Bridge while avoiding public attention.

Although Chelsea's squad are not due to return until Thursday, Quenda reported back early, alongside a small number of other players, to gain a head start on his preparations. Chelsea are adapting their squad with Quenda partly in mind, as Alejandro Garnacho is for sale and academy winger Jesse Derry is set to join Sporting to create space, while the club may deploy Quenda at wing‑back, a role suited to Xabi Alonso, who used deeper wide players at Bayer Leverkusen.

Sources close to Quenda say he is targeting a regular first‑team role at Chelsea. He also hopes to make his senior Portugal debut in the near future.