15 Chelsea players up for sale as Boehly admits transfer policy defeat

Tom Weber

• Updated: 11 Mar 2024 19:57 GMT
• 4 min read

As many as 15 players could depart Chelsea this summer after yet another disappointing season.

The Blues' second full season under Todd Boehly and first with Mauricio Pochettino as head coach has not gone to plan. Despite more investment in the summer, taking the total Boehly and company have splashed on signings to over €1 billion, Chelsea languish in mid-table.

This could see them once again miss out on European football, which will not only make attracting big-name players more difficult but it will also be a strain on the club's finances. Indeed, Chelsea are currently desperately hoping that Newcastle trigger Lewis Hall's purchase obligation in the next few weeks as the €30 million of 'pure profit' generated from this sale could then still be included in this season's accounts, alleviating Financial Fair Play concerns.

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Even with this transaction out of the way, Chelsea will still need to sell more players in the summer if they want to balance the books and have the ability to pursue megastars such as top target Victor Osimhen, who will command a fee of €130m. As a result, we may yet witness another exodus from Stamford Bridge.

15 players axed?

Last summer, Chelsea offloaded 17 first-team players permanently and a similar number of players could depart in the upcoming window, according to football.london.

Among the players potentially getting the axe are Boehly-era signings Noni Madueke, Marc Cucurella, Raheem Sterling, Carney Chukwuemeka and David Datro Fofana. The likes of Conor Gallagher, Trevoh Chalobah, Armando Broja and the aforementioned Hall could be used to generate 'pure profit.'

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Outcasts Romelu Lukaku, Malang Sarr, Ian Maatsen, Kepa Arrizabalaga and Hakim Ziyech are also expected to depart, with all of them except Sarr currently away from the club on loan. Finally, veteran defender Thiago Silva will also likely leave, though he technically won't be a sale as he is simply out of contract.