All the balls are in the air for Chelsea and Jeremie Boga

Chelsea has a buyback clause on Jeremie Boga that is being discussed in various ways. There are a lot of balls in the air as to what happens next.

Jeremie Boga played just one match for Chelsea under Antonio Conte. It was the match that started the 2017/2018 season where Gary Cahill (unjustly and do not let anyone tell you different) got a red card and Boga was the player sacrificed. Less than a week later he was loaned out and eventually sold.

Chelsea still believed in Boga on some level though as they included a very affordable €15 million buyback clause. Since then Boga has only gotten better and better and resigning him for such a paltry amount seems like a no brainier for the Blues.

Were it so simple. Chelsea is meeting with Sassuolo to discuss the situation, with seemingly the option of triggering the buyback on the table just as much as removing it to allow Sassuolo to sell him for profit to Napoli. On paper, that makes no sense for the Blues but there are a lot of balls in the air that will determine what happens.

First of all, the buy clause only means that Sassuolo has to accept the bid if Chelsea hits that price tag. There is no guarantee that Boga himself would agree to the transfer and that is understandable. He would be joining a Blues side that would, at the minimum, have Christian Pulisic, Callum Hudson-Odoi, and potentially (assuming he is used as a winger) Hakim Ziyech next season. That is not to mention Willian if he extends or the Jadon Sancho rumors.

So it would be perfectly understandable for Boga to look at Napoli and Chelsea and like his odds of playing time far more at the former. He has stated before that he would like to return to Chelsea one day, as players with buybacks tend to do, but his competition would be much steeper and potentially prohibitive.

The fates of Willian and Sancho likely play the largest part in what Boga may ultimately decide. If Willian extends and Sancho comes, Boga will have no chance at Chelsea. Even if just Sancho comes as Willian leaves, there will be few opportunities. Willian staying would not necessarily block Boga off, but he would still have to fight for minutes. A situation where both Willian leaves and Sancho does not arrive seems the most unlikely, but it would be a great situation for Boga personally.

But there is also the matter of this feeling like a favor towards Napoli. Chelsea could buy Boga back and sell him to Napoli themselves (not unlike Eintracht Frankfurt did with Luka Jovic), but that could end in a stalemate in a way that Sassuolo probably would not do themselves. Removing the buy clause would allow Sassuolo to sell Boga as they please to Napoli, which would come across as Chelsea doing Napoli a favor for little to no reason. Given how Napoli conducted themselves over pretty much any negotiation with Chelsea in recent seasons, that would make no sense at all.

Bringing Boga back would be smart business and seems like an easier decision than it really is. Everything would be based on Boga agreeing to rejoin and either fight for a place or trust Chelsea will do good business with Napoli. The fate of other signings or contract extensions plays a role as well. Removing the buy clause is by no means a guarantee, but it is an option given all the balls Chelsea has in the air at once over the situation.