Chelsea are not under pressure to sell or temporarily allow their assets to leave for financial reasons. Nor are there seemingly players wanting to depart Fulham Road who can be used to generate more funds; Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso won’t draw large fees if Barcelona acquire them, for example. Having said that, there are a few Blues squad members who could be relinquished in order to assist the arrival of other stars. Whilst these potential outgoings would also diminish the wage bill partially. Three understudies in particular seem to be figuratively extorting the West Londoners. Yet a fourth’s income may also surprise you somewhat.
The trio in question who must surely be sold or at the very least loaned, are: Malang Sarr, Ross Barkley and Kepa Arrizabalaga. Mistakes were made by the prior administration with respect to assessing quality here. Timo Werner makes up the quartet. Though I consider his demands to have been slightly more reasonable or justifiable because of his supposed pedigree and national team. While the money he is making, over £1million each month, compared with his output as an elite forward or makeshift winger is pretty unacceptable.
Shocking wages make Chelsea backup players difficult to offload
Shockingly high salaries have and will continue to almost certainly make specific CFC understudies difficult to offload this summer. However, doing so feels an essential measure in some cases, due to underperforming and the unjustifiably large pay packets.
Two examples I could point at in which Chels’ overpaid to begin with, and whom subsequently didn’t reach the heights many pundits and observers thought they would, are Sarr and Barkley. Obviously some people believe all footballers earn too much; the amounts are truly eye-watering. Nevertheless, paying ‘the best the most’ is a necessity for top tier leaders.
The Frenchman just simply hasn’t got what is required to be a starter at a side like Chelsea, as I see it. Whereas his commitment and dedication cannot be questioned. Learning of his astonishing £120,000-per-week haul did almost made me choke on my Weetabix this morning, however.
Meanwhile Barkley, who had much to admire when joining the Blues, too, is also raking it in for not a lot in return. Some, like myself, even assumed at the time of transferring that the switch may fail: he was only ever going to be a role player. To be fair, fitness issues do not help. Barkley earns £98,000 weekly. Which EPL side will take that outlay on?
Understanding the original stance on Arrizabalaga is easier, as he commanded respect, promise and lots of interest to begin with. When moving he was thought of as a big deal. So, what does the most expensive goalkeeper in footballing history – a whopping £71M signing – take home? A staggering £155k each and every week. Wow. Reserve ‘keepers generating that kind of cash makes me wish I went in goal as a kid.
CFC need to find fall guys, sorry, willing clubs to rid themselves of these unwanted and gratuitous remunerations. Clearly Chelsea can afford to have well paid, talented personnel at Stamford Bridge even as backup. But there may be some cheaper, hungrier options out there to reinforce the roster. Using the previously mentioned now unfavourable players as bargaining chips in other prospective agreements is sometimes a convenient approach as well.