Chelsea head coach Mauricio Pochettino has inherited a squad packed of world-class players and under-performing individuals. The immediate challenge for the Argentine is to build a team capable of returning to the pinnacle of English football after last season’s disastrous finish.
The Blues recorded their worst-ever campaign in the Premier League with a 12th-placed finish last season. The constant turmoil surrounding player contracts and managers played a telling role in the club's poor year, but the 2023/24 season is a chance for the perfect revival.
Pochettino has already started to implement his ideas at Cobham this week ahead of the start of Chelsea's pre-season schedule in the United States on July 19. Work behind-the-scenes on shaping the new head coach's squad is also underway, with a number of deals already completed.
Christopher Nkunku and Nicolas Jackson have both arrived to bolster the options in attack with moves for a new goalkeeper and multiple midfielders gathering pace. Yet, it has been on the outgoings side where most of business has been done.
Kalidou Koulibaly (Al-Hilal), Mateo Kovacic (Man City), Edouard Mendy (Al-Ahli), Kai Havertz (Arsenal), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (AC Milan), N'Golo Kante (Al-Ittihad) and Mason Mount (Man United) have all left for a combined fee of £206 million ($262m).
All those sales have contributed to the enormous downfall of the value of Chelsea's squad. According to Transfermarkt, the value of the current squad is €891.7m ($968.6m) - a whopping €103.2m ($112.1m) plummet from last season's €994.95m ($1.08bn).
READ MORE: Chelsea news and transfers LIVE: Deal done, Andrey Santos decision, Dybala update, Mudryk form
Nkunku and club-record signing Enzo Fernandez are the club's most valuable players at €80m ($86.9m), comfortably ahead of Reece James at €65m ($70.6m). Romeulu Lukaku, who is strongly tipped to leave the club, is valued at €40m ($43.4m) while highly-rated defender Levi Colwill is only rated at €30m (£32.6m).
It is worth stating that, in Chelsea's defence, the value of some players does not reflect the actual value of the player. For example, it would cost more than €35m ($38m) to buy Ben Chilwell and much more than the €15m ($16.3m) to buy Carney Chukwuemeka.
Chelsea's transfer business is far from being over and the potential arrivals of Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia could help retain their high squad value. Pochettino will be hoping to play his part in reinstating the west Londoners' status as one of Europe's most-valued clubs.
