Todd Boehly’s first summer transfer window with his new club has begun slowly in terms of incomings. However there has been plenty of outgoings, that including players and staff.
The new owner had a massive job on his hands when dealing with the Lukaku situation in which fans didn’t want to see the Belgium wear a Chelsea shirt again due to his out of the blue interview last December. Fast forward six months and he’s been shipped back out to his former club Inter, but only on loan where the Italian side will pay his wages as well as an £8 million loan fee. Some say this is clever business by allowing the striker to gain back some value which he ultimately lost last season where then Boehly will inevitably look to cash in and try and reclaim some of the £97.5 million the club spent out on him last summer.
Now short at the back due to the centre back pairing of Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen being allowed to have the contracts ran down where the pair both depart for nothing. Rudiger making the trip to the Champions League holders Real Madrid, following in the footsteps of Chelsea legend Eden Hazard and Christensen looking likely to join arch rivals in Barcelona. Marcos Alonso looking likely to leave as well as Cesar Azpilicueta who will find regular first team football to come by what with the ever developing full backs in Ben Chilwell and Reece James. As for the embarrassment for riches in the forward lines it’s looking likely Hakim Ziyech wants a move away from the Bridge with the intention of being the main man in a team, AC Milan are the team currently monitoring his situation.
So far there has been plenty of speculation for incomings but all Chelsea fans can do is watch their rivals spend big on their marquee signings with the team from Fulham Road yet to make a move for anyone of note. To reinvigorate their strike force Raheem Sterling has been speculated upon with the Englishmen having a year left on his City deal and heading into a World Cup year needs to be playing regular first team football to cement his place in Southgate’s World Cup side. Over the past couple of seasons its apparent the frontman has slipped out of favour in Pep Guardiola’s ever changing starting line up so maybe now being 27 he feels its time for a new challenge. Before Sterling it was looking like Ousmane Dembele from Barcelona but his injury seemed to have put off the club from pursuing the Frenchman. Till fill the huge voids left by Rudiger and Christensen there’s been more speculation of Dutch defender Matthijs de Ligt however Juventus want in excess of £100 million for him due to his release clause and them no really needing to sell him. To note this has just been speculation and no concrete offer has been made which is something that will cause unrest for the Chelsea faithful due to the large hole they now have in the centre of their defence.
