Chelsea are in a race to sell players before June 30, as they plan a mass clear-out of their squad to ensure they continue to stay in line with Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules.
The Blues need to offload players to balance the books after spending more than £600million since they were taken over by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital last year.
Christian Pulisic, Hakim Ziyech, Kalidou Koulibaly, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Conor Gallagher, Romelu Lukaku and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang could all be sold, while Mason Mount is wanted by Liverpool, Manchester United and now Newcastle.
Chelsea are under pressure to sell players before June 30 so the sales can be included in their financial accounts for 2022-23. Rival clubs are aware of that issue and could use it as leverage over the price of players as the deadline draws nearer.
Chelsea need to reduce the size of their squad and have already started talking to clubs about offloading players ahead of a big summer. Alongside Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, Brighton owner Tony Bloom, Barcelona sporting director Mateu Alemany and super-agent Jorge Mendes were all in the directors’ box at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night.
Directors from Portuguese club Sporting Lisbon were also in attendance as Chelsea crashed out of the Champions League with a 4-0 aggregate defeat by holders Madrid in the quarter-finals, while the Blues have also met officials from Serie A club Atalanta in recent weeks to discuss both selling and buying players.
Chelsea are keen to sell players before the start of pre-season in mid-July, to ensure their new manager does not face the same problems Graham Potter had with a bloated squad. The club is continuing its search for a new manager, with Mauricio Pochettino expected to join Julian Nagelsmann in the next round of the process. But Chelsea have cooled their interest in former Spain manager Luis Enrique.
Sporting’s Ruben Amorim, Napoli’s Luciano Spalletti, Eintracht Frankfurt’s Oliver Glasner and former River Plate manager Marcelo Gallardo could also make the final shortlist. Several sources suggest that former Bayern Munich boss Nagelsmann is the front runner, despite Chelsea insisting the process remains open and there is no preferred candidate.
Nagelsmann worked with Chelsea technical director Christopher Vivell and co-sporting director Laurence Stewart at RB Leipzig, while he is known to be the favoured choice of at least one prominent board member after impressing in his first interview.
