Chelsea: Mario Pasalic starts off summer sales

Chelsea’s going to offload many of its players throughout the coming months with Mario Pasalic kicking off the sales before the end of the season.

Chelsea announced the sale of Mario Pasalic on Monday. Pasalic moves to Atalanta on a permanent deal after six years as a Chelsea player. He spent an overwhelming majority of his Blues career out on loan, most recently playing a large role in getting the Italian squad to the Champions League for the first time.

Pasalic leaves for around £13.5 million, a fee many deem cheap considering how well he’s played in Italy. Anything over £10 million is a fair price in the Blues’ eyes, seeing as his chances of playing at Stamford Bridge have been slim-to-none in recent years. Regardless, Pasalic’s sale is rather significant seeing as it kickstarts a busy summer of selling players to clubs across the world.

The players most likely to be sold by Chelsea this summer are the experienced players out on loan. As the size of the loan army decreases due to new regulations, the Blues have no place for a lot of the ‘older’ loanees and are going to look to cash in. Danny Drinkwater, Victor Moses, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Kenedy, Izzy Brown, Lucas Piazon and Matt Miazga are some names to keep an eye on.

Further, there are a few players in the current first team who are unlikely to be around next season. Of course, Willian and Pedro are gone in all probability, but they will be leaving for free on contract expiry.

Ross Barkley is likely the biggest question mark at the moment. Other clubs are poking around, but nothing concrete as it stands. Barkley’s played an important role in the side over the last few matches and one has to wonder whether or not Lampard sees some of himself in the English midfielder. Barkley’s not going to develop into a world class midfielder, but he provides a wonderful spark off the bench.

Further, Pasalic was the first sale to Italy, but he surely won’t be the last. Both Emerson and Jorginho are being linked to relatively big money moves to some top Italian sides. Former Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri is rumored to be interested in the pair. Jorginho is an important player for Chelsea, but if he desires a move back after two seasons, the Blues have replacements in mind. The same goes for Emerson, who is likely on the way out regardless as Lampard’s plans seemingly don’t include him. If the Blues were to sell them both, they’d get a pretty penny to add to the summer funds.

Other players in the first team who look to be on their way out are Marcos Alonso, Michy Batshuayi and maybe even a defender—likely Andreas Christensen. All three players remain valuable assets to most top flight European teams, so they’re likely to fetch a hefty fee for the club.

With the Blues signing Timo Werner, there is no reason to keep Batshuayi on the books any longer. The third-choice striker struggles to see the field as it is, move him down a notch on the depth chart and he never plays. Chelsea’s pursuit of Leicester City’s Ben Chilwell renders Marcos Alonso insignificant, so the Blues want to cash in while they still can. As for Christensen, defensive struggles this season means some changes are coming; the Dane is the first name on the chopping block.

Chelsea is trying to simply clean out the squad and compete for trophies, but along the way, the club is collecting a significant sum for massive moves. The fire sale of both first team players and a portion of the loan army not only helps fund these current moves, but also future transactions. Pasalic is not the first and he won’t be the last, Chelsea is just getting started.