Mauricio Pochettino's beginning to life at Chelsea is off to a busy start even though he is yet to officially take post. Six players are closing in on completing transfers involving the club as the process of cutting down a huge squad starts ahead of time.
Before Malo Gusto, Christopher Nkunku, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Andrey Santos and Romelu Lukaku all return - as well as Gabriel Slonina and Carney Chukwuemeka - there are decisions to be made and players to be sold. The demand for completing a busy outsourcing drive is ever-increasing as a push towards sales before new recruits paves the way for Pochettino's first pre-season in charge.
His contract with the club doesn't kick in until July 1, but before then the Blues and Pochettino himself can certainly put themselves into a situation whereby they are benefiting from early decisions. After three weeks of talks things have shot out of the blocks following the end of a torturous season.
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Pochettino, Chelsea, the owners and the new recruitment department are all keen to draw a line under this year and put the movement forward in the spotlight instead of too much reflection. With speedy progress made towards moving on five of the stars from Frank Lampard's squad, it has been time well spent so far.
Joao Felix and Denis Zakaria aren't extending their loans or negotiating a fee for a permanent move. Mateo Kovacic has entered talks with Manchester City over a transfer this summer for around £35m ($43.5m), Mason Mount is edging closer towards a move away from the club as he begins discussions with Manchester United and Ruben Loftus-Cheek is an agreed fee away from becoming an AC Milan midfielder.
One player that the club are determined not to lose is Levi Colwill. The 20-year-old is seen as one of the future world stars, best players in his position across the lower age groups and someone that can be a pillar to build around for Pochettino moving forward.
The resolve over this has been tested already after Brighton offered £30m ($37m) for him on a permanent deal less than one week after the final game of his season-long loan spell. For a player that struggled to make much impact in his early months on the south coast it is quite the demonstration of his talents.
Colwill is admired by the Seagulls and was pursued last summer with a £20m big lodged as part of the deal to take Marc Cucurella the opposite way. Chelsea held out with the ambition of adding Colwill to their squad for 2023/24 with a season of experience behind him. They now have the chance to do that but must first fight of competition for his signature.
Manchester City are among the clubs known to be after him. football.london understands that he is simply not for sale. With two years on his initial deal there is wiggle room to play with, as well. It won't stop the waters being tested. Colwill raised alert from Blues fans and rival clubs with telling comments made last week.
“Brighton have done a lot for me. They put their trust in me when others didn’t and I’m a person that loves to repay that. We’ll see," he said when asked what comes next after a successful year at the Amex Stadium.
“I don’t know what is going to happen [at Chelsea]. I’m still here until the end of the season. I just focus on that, then I’ve got the Euros [the Under-21 European Championship with England] in the summer. After that, we’ll see what happens and go from there.”
However, with Pochettino determined to use him this summer and into next season, Chelsea do have a way to hold off interested parties. There is a club option to extend his contract beyond two years until 2025, but on the proviso that he played a certain amount of games.
Given the esteem in which he is held and the determination to make him a key part of the club's future, that shouldn't be an issue and it offers Pochettino a surefire, ready-made way to tie Colwill down at Stamford Bridge.
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