BREAKING: Chelsea To Recoup £200m By Selling Nine Players [FULL LIST]—-Chelsea will look to raise over £200million in player sales as they enter the final phase of another extraordinary window that has seen rivals question how they can continue to spend so lavishly without reprisals.
The £54million signing of Pedro Neto from Wolves this weekend was their 12th of the summer but won’t be their last. Indeed, Atletico Madrid‘s burly striker Samu Omorodion should have been next through the Stamford Bridge revolving door only for negotiations to collapse on Sunday evening.
Attention has switched to a familiar face in Atletico’s Joao Felix, one of several options under consideration, and they still want a centre forward such as Napoli’s Victor Osimhen before the deadline of August 30.
It’s easy to see how Chelsea have spent £1.5billion in the Todd Boehly era.
So how many players do they need? Under Graham Potter, there were so many players they had to change in the corridor. Now there are over 50 registered in the squad and coach Enzo Maresca likes to work with a group of 25, so there’s plenty of negotiating to do.
For all the finger pointing though, Chelsea insist they are compliant within Profit and Sustainability Rules for 23/24 and remain on target for 24/25. There are no internal concerns about whether they can stay within the limits, hence what they consider a feasible mission to raise £200m.
One tiptoe in that direction was taken yesterday as Diego Moreira, a free agent signing from Benfica, was sold to sister club Strasbourg for £1.7m.
Romelu Lukaku, who wants to join Napoli, Trevoh Chalobah, an option for Crystal Palace, and Armando Broja, who is on Stuttgart’s wishlist and admired by Wolves, have been training with the club’s development squad and are expected to follow suit for around £70million.
The ‘bomb squad’ banishment had also been relayed to Conor Gallagher before he accepted his £35m move to Atletico Madrid but, while that deal has been in place since last week, it now hinges on Atletico selling.
Tensions are high after the breakdown of Omorodion’s transfer, the 20-year-old remains an option for West Ham, Bournemouth and Wolves after all, but Joao Felix has shown a willingness to drop his wage demands to at least help facilitate his part of the bargain.
