Chelsea could reportedly offload as many as six players this summer to ease Financial Fair Play pressure and allow them to spend more in the transfer market, according to Ben Jacobs in his column for Si Phillips Talks Chelsea.
The Blues have some players out on loan like Romelu Lukaku, Armando Broja, Ian Maatsen and Lewis Hall, all of whom are not expected to come back, while others in their current first-team squad could also move on, such as Conor Gallagher and Trevoh Chalobah.
Discussing the situation, Jacobs said: “Chelsea expect £35m for Ian Maatsen but could settle for £30m. He’s doing really well at Dortmund with another assist at the weekend, so his value is only rising.
“Newcastle’s £28m obligation to buy Lewis Hall is also expected to kick in. And the plan is to sell Armando Broja for £35m+. Conor Gallagher and Trevoh Chalobah could also be sold and let’s not forget Chelsea are still planning for a £37m (€45m) fee for Romelu Lukaku.
“So even if Chelsea chose to spend £300-£350m this summer they can likely offset this in sales.”
Chelsea have been on an interesting journey under their current owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali, with the recruitment strategy looking very different to how it looked under previous owner Roman Abramovich.
The west Londoners enjoyed plenty of success under Abramovich, but it just hasn’t quite worked under the new owners yet, with so much money spent on top young players who don’t seem to be gelling well together so far.
Selling players this summer could perhaps be ideal as it would help Chelsea raise funds for some more proven players to help their youngsters, though some fans won’t be too happy if a key figure like Gallagher goes, while Maatsen also looks like he might be worth keeping around after his impressive start to life on loan at Borussia Dortmund.