If everything goes to plan for Chelsea, Mauricio Pochettino could be handed a healthy transfer budget to sign his priority targets this summer. The appointment of the former Tottenham boss as the Blues new head coach was confirmed earlier this week, however, football.london understands an agreement had been in place since early May which has allowed some work to already be completed by Pochettino behind the scenes.
Early decisions made appear to include the futures of Joao Felix, Denis Zakaria, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Mason Mount. Both Felix and Zakaria will return to Atletico Madrid and Juventus, respectively, after Pochettino chose to not sign either permanently upon the expiry of their loan spells, while Loftus-Cheek and Mount are a duo who could be set for exits this summer.
AC Milan are in talks to sign Loftus-Cheek, while a lack of progress this year on contract negotiations for Mount likely means he will leave his boyhood club. Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal are all seriously interested in Mount, football.london understands. Jurgen Klopp's side emerged as early front-runners having done more ground work than any other club, but United are now leading the race for his signature.
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Both parties don't want an exit to happen but it almost seems inevitable with just over a month until the summer window opens. The Blues are still demanding £70million to sanction Mount's exit and his sale could form a large part of Pochettino's summer budget with most of it acquired through player sales.
According to the Daily Mail, Chelsea hope to raise as much as £280million which would see 15 depart in total with 10 players leaving for a fee, a further three leaving on loan or free transfers and two return to their parent clubs.
A significant exodus does need to take place and while Chelsea acquiring that amount is unlikely, a similar total is plausible. Just through the sheer number of players being sold, Todd Boehly could easily hand significant funds acquired in sales over to Pochettino to reinvest into the squad for signings in line with his methods and ideas.
Pure profit can also be obtained by selling homegrown stars such as Loftus-Cheek, Mount and Conor Gallagher which will help balance Chelsea's financial books ahead of the FFP deadline on June 30. Manuel Ugarte of Sporting CP looks likely to be the first major arrival of the Pochettino era with that deal moving rapidly, and attention then will likely to turn to either attack or between the posts.
As striker options, Victor Osimhen, Dusan Vlahovic and Lautaro Martinez have been put forward, while the goalkeeper shortlist has been been narrowed down to David Raya, Andre Onana and Emiliano Martinez, according to The Guardian.
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