Chelsea's summer transfer window poses a huge challenge to the recruitment team for a whole host of reasons, following on from a difficult season. The Blues will be hopeful of strengthening their ranks, with the incoming Mauricio Pochettino requiring some backing to ensure his project gets off to a smooth start.
Christopher Nkunku was the first addition of the summer that looks likely to play a huge role in the first-team next season, with the Frenchman joining from RB Leipzig. The forward is able to play anywhere across the front three and in an attacking midfield role, offering plenty of different options.
football.london understands that Brighton star Moises Caicedo is a priority for the Blues this summer as they look to strengthen their midfield. Elsewhere, there have been links to goalkeepers and strikers as the west London club look to further improve upon their backline and forward lines.
However, the idea of adding yet more bodies to an already bloated squad may only cause further issues for the new head coach to walk into. Add to that the need to offset some of the £600million spent over the last two windows under the new ownership and it's clear that there must be a sale first policy.
There's some fortune about the fact that at the same time, there's a recruitment drive in Saudi Arabian football, following the state's Public Investment Fund investment into four of the teams. A huge push towards signing top names to improve the quality of the league has been made, with big money spent.
READ MORE: Chelsea news and transfers LIVE: Done deal, Aurelien Tchouameni bid, N'Golo Kante exit, Nkunku move
The Blues are intertwined with this as N'Golo Kante turned down a stay at Stamford Bridge to join Al-Ittihad on a four-year deal. Then there's the sale of three stars that appear to have been agreed as Fabrizio Romano reports that Kalidou Koulibaly has agreed a deal to join Al-Hilal, Edouard Mendy will move to Al-Ahli and Hakim Ziyech will switch to Al-Nassr.
With the trio still under contract at Stamford Bridge, the club are due a transfer fee and will also move some big wages off their books. According to CBS journalist Ben Jacobs, Ziyech's move is worth roughly £8.5million, with Koulibaly sitting at £17million, with Mendy's fee currently unknown - though CIES currently values him at roughly £13million.
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That could see Chelsea land a transfer windfall of £38.5million, a healthy sum to add to their warchest for the summer, while also moving players on. It's clear that there's still more work to be done, with a number of players still being linked with moves away, however they've started to make a dent into their task for the summer.
