Chelsea set to cash in on loan army to raise funds for summer spending
By Travis Tyler
Chelsea have been spending within their means for years. A big part of that has been the loan army. Chelsea will dip into the loan army reserve to spend.
It is no secret that missing out on the Champions League can severely hurt a club financially. Chelsea absorbed the loss well last time out. But to have it happen twice in three years will be crippling to Chelsea’s ability to spend. Add in Roman Abramovich squirreling away his own money for the new stadium and Chelsea will struggle to raise funds.
Unless, of course, they dip into the reserve that they have built up over years. The loan army was created for two reasons. The first was to cast a wide net and find the most talented players early while keeping the first team consistently strong top to bottom. The second was to sell at a profit anyone who did not make it at Chelsea.
Attached in a report of Anthony Martial to Chelsea was a tidbit about Chelsea clearing out the loan army to raise funds. The Chelsea board believes they can raise over 100 million pounds from the loan system.
That is true, but it will take a great deal of strategy. A player in the loan army can be bought for two million pounds and sold three years later for 10, but that is a drop in a 100 million pound bucket.
But Chelsea do have several, higher profile players who appear to have run out of rope. Michy Batshuayi is at a club who genuinely want to use him. Marco van Ginkel has been on loan at PSV for years and is now captain there. Lucas Piazon and Tomas Kalas have been in a similar situation at Fulham. And Kurt Zouma and Kenedy are unwilling to return and sit on the bench.
Even conservatively, those players could easily send Chelsea past the 100 million pound mark. Most if not all of them are Premier League ready players and could slot in nearly anywhere. It would be risky as some (such as Zouma and Kenedy) still have potential but it may be a necessary risk.
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Chelsea could further clear out the loan system by selling off any player who is already 23. At that age, they would have made it already if they were going to. That also means that at 21/22, they need to be on loan in one of the big four leagues (Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A). If they are not (and it is not injury induced) send them away.
The only two players in the loan army that are supposedly totally safe are Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tammy Abraham. Both have been on Premier League loans this season and have shown promise. Loftus-Cheek looks set to return to Chelsea as a key player if not a starter. Abraham will get another loan in the Premier League, ideally one that provides better service.
In addition to selling loan army players, Chelsea are also preparing to sell Danny Drinkwater and possibly David Luiz and Pedro. All three have struggled for playing time this season. The latter two will be entering the last year of the contract and it will be the last chance to profit off of them.
Add in the potential departures of Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois and Chelsea could easily end up with 250 million or more just from player sales. That would be a hefty chunk of change, combined with what is already budgeted for player purchases, to use to rebuild the squad.
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Whoever is manager next season will have a massive task after losing so many players. But if they have any say in transfers at all, they can very much make the squad theirs very quickly.