Mauricio Pochettino has seen his hopes of solving two major Chelsea problems this summer surprisingly boosted by Wolves star Ruben Neves. The Portugal international has been heavily linked with a move away from Molineux in recent windows and with one year remaining on his contract, his departure appears imminent.
Links to Manchester United and Arsenal have been prominent but instead the 26-year-old is on the verge of signing for Saudi Arabian outfit Al-Hilal. According to The Athletic, Wolves will receive £47 million for their captain with negotiations on personal terms currently taking place.
Despite Chelsea having no obvious interest in Neves, Pochettino's squad clear out plans for the summer could have been boosted by his transfer. That is because Edouard Mendy, Hakim Ziyech and Kalidou Koulibaly are all being linked with moves to Saudi Arabia with the likelihood of at least one joining N'Golo Kante in the Middle East seeming high.
Mateo Kovacic, Mason Mount, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Kai Havertz are just a few other players close to securing exits from west London. The Croatian midfielder looks set to sign for Manchester City, while Mount and Loftus-Cheek appear well placed to join Manchester United and AC Milan, respectively.
The Blues have already rejected a bid from Arsenal for Havertz with another expected to arrive soon after personal terms were sorted earlier this week. Alongside the mass-exodus plans, which look to being going well thus far, a June 30 FFP deadline is fast approaching where balancing the books for the financial year is needed.
Selling players quickly is therefore crucial and with Saudi Arabian clubs not afraid of offering lucrative transfer fees, as shown with Neves, agreeing a departure for just one of Mendy, Koulibaly or Ziyech could help greatly.
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There is no obvious quoted price for the trio but both Mendy and Ziyech are certainly open to leaving after tumultuous spells at Stamford Bridge. Meanwhile, having only arrived at Chelsea last summer, Koulibaly wants to fight for his place and has already rejected a loan back to Serie A with Inter which was put forward in a meeting about Romelu Lukaku and Andre Onana.
The immediate future of those three players is expected to be away from the Blues, and if a deal can be struck with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) that has recently taken over four clubs from their country, Pochettino will have been gifted a huge boost to his transfer incoming plans which are currently centred around Brighton's Moises Caicedo.
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