Chelsea could follow Barcelona as Net Loss FC
FT Desk
- 6 Aug 2022 12:07 BST
- 3 min read
Liverpool offset Darwin Nunez's €100 million signing by selling Sadio Mane for €41m. Barcelona are at the other end of the scale, but at this rate, Chelsea won't be far behind.
Chelsea have had to scramble to add to their squad this summer. While Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly and Marc Cucurella are fine players, they set the Blues back a combined £142.5m/€169m.
The acquisitions of Koulibaly and Cucurella were particularly urgent, Chelsea having lost two centre-backs in Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen on free transfers to Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively.
Koulibaly is the wrong side of 30 and Cucurella would rather be hugging the touchline, but beggars can't be choosers - Thiago Silva urgently needed some company in Thomas Tuchel's preferred three-man backline.
Chelsea need to pay a "Harry Maguire fee" for Wesley Fofana 💰@jacobsben with the latest on the Leicester defender 👇 pic.twitter.com/455KKgQd2m
— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) August 5, 2022
Selling clubs, aware of Chelsea's defensive plight, are happy to capitalise. Leicester are holding out for a "Harry Maguire fee" for Wesley Fofana - a promising centre-back but one who played just seven games last season after breaking his leg, nonetheless.
At the other end of the field, Romelo Lukaku was brought back to the cub last summer in a £97.5m/€115m deal. Eight Premier League goals later and he has returned to Inter Milan on loan for a £6.9m/€8m fee.
Still some shopping to be done?
Chelsea could race past the €300m mark for spending this summer if they are successful in recruiting Fofana as well as a pair of targets at Barca in Frenkie de Jong and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang this summer.
But unlike Liverpool - or indeed Manchester City who have sold Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko to Arsenal for a net £77m/€91m - Chelsea have struggled to generate fees for players this summer.
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Lukaku's departure is the only one that has generated any money. Timo Werner - a €56m arrival from RB Leipzig in 2020 - looks like he'll leave on another loan deal, either returning to Leipzig or joining Juventus; while clubs have been slow to bid for N'Golo Kante and Jorginho with the ageing midfield pair only having a year left on their deals.
Chelsea are at least financially buoyant now that Todd Boehly and Co. have replaced Roman Abramovich in ownership, but they need to tighten up their transfer incomings and outgoings if they want to avoid a serious headache down the road.
