Chelsea defender Ricardo Carvalho looks like he could be on his way out of the club to join Inter Milan, while reports suggest that fellow Portuguese defender Bruno Alves looks set to come in and replace him; however is the Porto defender a needed reinforcement?

Bruno Alves has been somewhat of a late bloomer as despite playing for Porto for his entire career, he didn’t hold down a regular first team spot until 2006. He then received his first call-up to the Portugal squad a year later and has remained a regular. He is very highly regarded in Portugal and the 28-year-old has been in high demand for a while.

Chelsea will need another centreback to replace Carvalho but more than likely as a squad player rather than as a first team regular, as Alex is more than capable of being Chelsea’s first choice alongside John Terry. Carvalho looks to be heading to Inter Milan which would be a great move for himself, and if Chelsea can get a good fee for him then it would be a good bit of business by the Blues considering Carvalho's age.

However it cannot be forgotten how good Carvalho has been for Chelsea over the years, he is a brilliant defender at times people have often questioned whether or not Terry is actually Chelsea’s best defender because of the displays he has shown.

Fernando Torres even said about the Chelsea pairing: “Terry is captain so gets a much higher profile. But he's only secondary to Carvalho, Ricky is superb, he has every quality that is needed.”

Carvalho is definitely one of the world’s best defenders and although Alves has shown to be capable, he isn’t as good and so Chelsea will be losing some quality with Alves as Carvalho’s replacement. There could possibly be better targets for Chelsea to pursue but they would have to find someone that is happy to sit on the bench unless they want to relegate Alex to the dugout. However he has been very good Chelsea and him and Terry have forged a great partnership, so it may not be wise to break that up.

Alves has shown that he can be reliable and that is the main characteristic that Chelsea need to look for when finding a suitable back-up defender. Alves has knuckled down and worked hard to gain a first team spot at Porto when so many others in his position would have simply requested a move. If he shows the same attitude at Chelsea then he could turn out to be a terrific signing for them.

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