- 10 hours ago
No Gyokeres, no Osimhen? Chelsea set for transfer OBLIVION as crisis mounts
Chelsea are facing a perfect storm in the transfer market this summer.
The Todd Boehly-led outfit would appear to have very little headroom when it comes to their budget for incoming players.
A recently announced £90.1 million loss for the period covering 2022-23 means the Blues are close to a profit and sustainability rules breach and are reportedly in need of offloading up to £100m worth of players before the end of June to comply.
Premier League rules stipulate that clubs must keep their losses under £105m over a three-year period and the latest losses follow a £121.4m loss the year before.
That could see the core of their squad hollowed out with Conor Gallagher and Reece James among the homegrown players who could bank their club “pure profit” in their accounts.
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Gallagher was close to agreeing a move to Tottenham last year and will only have 12 months on his contract come summer. While it is known that the midfielder would like to remain at his boyhood club, there has been no breakthrough in contract talks and Chelsea will be against losing him for nothing in 2025.
James, meanwhile, is one of the foremost right backs and wing backs in the world on his day but sadly due to injury those days are becoming fewer and further between.
The club captain could well be sacrificed with Malo Gusto making a decisive breakthrough in his absence on the right hand side.
Another homegrown player who could bring in some much-needed cash is Trevoh Chalobah, whose move to Bayern Munich fell down in winter.
Chelsea trying to offload expensive flops
Other players set for a departure include Marc Cucurella, who has proven nowhere near good enough during his two-season spell at Stamford Bridge since signing for £62m under Graham Potter.
Benoit Badiashile has spent too much time on the sidelines and the club might well cut their losses.
Chelsea are also desperate for buyers for Kepa Arrizabalaga, who has no future at Real Madrid either given the form of Thibaut Courtois’ stand-in Andriy Lunin.
They will also seek suitors for, perhaps, their worst transfer of all time in Romelu Lukaku, who cost them £97.5m and has delivered nothing.
Players like Ian Maatsen, Lewis Hall and Armando Broja are all out on loan currently and they too are destined to be sold on.
There is also money to be recouped on Hakim Ziyech, whose loan move to Galatasaray will become permanent so long as certain conditions are met.
All those outgoings in a fire sale could well help Chelsea meet their PSR obligations and provide a boost for Mauricio Pochettino in the summer market.
However, with £1 billion spent under BlueCo so far, to very little effect, there is no guarantee that Chelsea will be able to find the right targets.
Raheem Sterling, Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo, Mykhailo Mudryk, Noni Madueke and more have proven to be inconsistent at best despite a lavish outlay and the Chelsea squad looks unbalanced and alarmingly short of experience and quality.
Which players are Chelsea going to sign this summer?
But for a club that has got used to shopping in the luxury end of the market, this summer could be a rude awakening.
Champions League football is an impossibility while even the Europa League is in doubt.
It’s already clear that Chelsea will lose out on Viktor Gyokeres due to their lack of European football and the best players in the world do not want to be playing outside the Champions League.
There will also be an inevitable budget hit with the club missing out on many millions by not being present in the newly revamped top-tier competition.
Where that leaves them is anyone’s guess.
He has the opportunity to lead a new, post-Kylian Mbappe era at Paris Saint-Germain and if the choice is between those two clubs then there’s only going to be one winner.
They are also looking for a new centre back with Thiago Silva out of contact and Badiashile and Wesley Fofana totally unreliable from a fitness standpoint.
Links with players like Leny Yoro, Ousmane Diomande and Goncalo Inacio look fanciful given the scale of Chelsea’s predicament and the desperate situation looming on the horizon.
There are signs that the Boehly era could be entering a downward spiral with several under-performing, overvalued players on the books for the next decade or so and no chance of making a profit on most of them.
Chelsea are going to find it very difficult to attract the kind of talent that can help get them out of their current mess.
Where Gyokeres led, others will surely follow as Chelsea becomes a club that the elite players shy away from.
