Chelsea's mass exodus of the playing squad continues this week as the Blues reach a crucial stage in the summer transfer window. With a return to pre-season next week, the side will be looking to have most of the core of the team together to begin preparations with Mauricio Pochettino.
A trimming of the squad is required first, with a whole host of signings over the past year only bloating it out and causing selection issues. That may have then played a part in the poor results suffered last season, where the west London outfit went on to finish 12th in the Premier League.
The recruitment team appear to have made a decent start into facilitating certain exits, even if they come at a slight cost financially. N'Golo Kante was one that was out of their control, having left at the end of his contract on a free to Al-Ittihad, but he signalled the first of many moves.
Kalidou Koulibaly made the switch to Al-Hilal just one-year after joining Chelsea, with Hakim Ziyech and Edouard Mendy also expected to move to the Saudi Pro League in the coming days. Mateo Kovacic is readying a move to Manchester City, while football.london understands that Kai Havertz underwent part of his Arsenal medical over the weekend before a £65million transfer.
There still remains questions over the likes of Mason Mount, Trevoh Chalobah, Cesar Azpilicueta, Conor Gallagher, Christian Pulisic, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Romelu Lukaku. While some deals may come later in the window, it's the latter that is still subject of interest from Inter Milan.
READ MORE: Chelsea news and transfers LIVE: Done deal, Harry Kane bid, Moises Caicedo move, Mount latest
Lukaku joined the Blues for a huge £97.5million deal from Internazionale, however it didn't help solve their goal scoring problems as expected. A loan deal back to the Nerazzurri was agreed for the following campaign, however his future is now uncertain again this summer.
There have been reports of offers from Saudi Arabia that have been turned down, but according to the Telegraph, Inter are making their move once again. New talks are expected between the two clubs over a deal, with the expectation being another loan with an option to buy at roughly £25million.
Chelsea would prefer an obligation to buy, ensuring a move would be secured for the end of the loan itself, but there's expectation that an agreement can be reached. It remains to be seen whether that will be the case, however it would mark another step towards solving the bloated squad.
