Revealed: The Chelsea stars who fear summer sales

Cameron Smith

• 3 Feb 2023 13:10 GMT
• 4 min read

Chelsea are expected to compensate for their lucrative January spending with a fire sale during the summer transfer window, which has reportedly left their academy stars feeling worried about their future at the club.

Todd Boehly's arrival as owner in 2022 has led to a spike in financial pulling power for the West London club, who have spent over €600 million since the American billionaire took over.

The bulk of that came in a historic January transfer window, in which Chelsea outspent the entirety of the Bundesliga, La Liga, Ligue 1 and Serie A combined through the additions of eight new faces.

READ: When will Enzo Fernandez make his Chelsea debut?

David Datro Fofana, Benoit Badiashile, Andrey Santos, Joao Felix (loan), Mykhailo Mudryk, Noni Madueke, Malo Gusto and Enzo Fernandez all arrived at Stamford Bridge last month, with the Blues flexing their financial muscle halfway through the 2022/23 Premier League season.

Despite all the money spent under Boehly, injury woes have meant that head coach Graham Potter has been forced to dip into the Blues' stacked academy system to find players for the first-team.

Lewis Hall has become a key player in recent weeks, displacing Marc Cucurella at left-back, while Omari Hutchinson has seen minutes off the bench. Furthermore, youngster Carney Chukweumeka, signed from Aston Villa last summer, has also been handed several opportunities in the first-team.

READ: Chelsea's record-breaking spending won't continue, claims Potter

But, with the immense January spending, combined with injured stars to come back, the Blues' academy graduates are fearful for their futures at the club, according to The Telegraph.

The Stamford Bridge outfit are preparing for a mass clear-out this summer, with the process already underway thanks to Jorginho's permanent transfer to Arsenal in late January.

The report details that the club's academy graduates are worried they will be sold this summer if Chelsea don't achieve Champions League qualification. They currently sit in 10th place in the Premier League, 10 points behind Manchester United in fourth.

Academy stars to be sold?

Kieran Maguire, a football finance analyst, recently told The Times: "Chelsea’s wage bill in 2021 was £333 million and that was before the club had made an investment in a myriad of players on long-term contracts who are also presumably very well remunerated.

"I think failure to qualify for the Champions League this season will mean that they will be very much on UEFA’s watchlist. The thing that is most likely to be able to dig Chelsea out is that they do have players who have come through the academy who count as a zero cost in FFP calculations who could be sold for significant sums.

"Selling the likes of Callum Hudson-Odoi, Conor Gallagher and Ruben Loftus-Cheek could generate close to £100million between them. That would be pure profit under the new version of UEFAs financial sustainability rules and this more than anything else could prove to be the saviour of Chelsea in the future."

Essentially, Chelsea may need to sell some academy stars in order to generate 'pure profit' and balance the books to avoid any FFP breaches.

After all, Chelsea were put on a 19-club FFP watchlist by UEFA back in September, meaning they were already being looked at before they splashed €330m in January.

As a result, those who have come through at Cobham are reportedly worried about their future at Chelsea.

Mason Mount has attracted interest from Liverpool recently, while Everton wanted to sign Conor Gallagher on Deadline Day, but the player refused to move to Goodison Park. Furthermore, the former Crystal Palace loanee is now a major target for Newcastle, according to The Evening Standard, who are planning a summer assault.

Furthermore, according to The Evening Standard, Hakim Ziyech, Christian Pulisic, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Kalidou Koulibaly and Edouard Mendy could also be on their way out of Stamford Bridge as Chelsea look to complete their squad rebuild.