Why Chelsea shouldn't sell Mount & Kovacic to Premier League rivals

James Shearman

• Updated: 1 Jun 2023 22:21 BST
• 3 min read

Chelsea are set to lose Mason Mount and Mateo Kovacic to Premier League rivals in the summer transfer window.

Both player's contracts are up at the end of next season and do not appear to be signing extensions.

Mount has been linked with Liverpool and Arsenal but is closest to joining Erik ten Hag's Manchester United.

MORE: Thiago Silva CONFIRMS Mount's Man Utd transfer

The Red Devils are in need of midfield competition for the aging Fred and Christian Eriksen.

While Kovacic is nearing a move to Pep Guardiola's title-winning Manchester City side.

Why Chelsea shouldn't sell Mount & Kovacic to Premier League rivals

Chelsea have typically sold players to Premier League rivals at the right time.

Nemanja Matic to Man Utd, David Luiz and Jorginho to Arsenal are prime examples of the Blues letting go of players that were on the decline.

But the same can't be said for Kovacic (29) and especially Mount (24) should they leave this summer.

Kovacic was excellent under Frank Lampard and Thomas Tuchel prior to the 2022-23 season.

Some would suggest that he is no longer the same player but it is more likely that he just had an off year - Guardiola certainly thinks so.

And selling Kovacic would mean having to spend a fortune on a replacement, as well as the two midfielders that they already plan to bring in.

While selling Mount to Man Utd, or any other Premier League team would make no sense at all.

At least with Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah, they developed abroad before coming back to England to haunt Chelsea's decision makers.

In this instance, Mount would compete against the Blues from the outset and help to prevent them from returning to the Champions League places.