So in the cases where the fees I am suggesting seem too high I’ll remind you of the piece I wrote where I suggested Chelsea use their financial strength during COVID to gain a stronger foothold in the market. That same acceptance of long-term fees is something I think Chelsea should still do if only to get salaries off the books immediately.
At the moment Chelsea has roughly 40 players contracted for next season. Some of that is dependent on how various roster search sites categorize them but either way, that’s a close starting point.
The outgoing players that make the most sense would be:
(Underlined names will receive further explanation)
Romelu Lukaku, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Christian Pulisic, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Malang Sarr, Mateo Kovacic, Abdul Baba Rahman, Mason Mount, Edouard Mendy, Denis Zakaria and Timoue Bakayoko.
In rough fees I believe Chelsea could collect total fees of £220 million for these players.
Then if adding the yearly salaries of players in this group as roughly £77.5 million per year that would give Chelsea £277.5 million back immediately.
Lukaku and Mount are both underlined because they’re more complicated.
In the case of Lukaku if Pochettino can get him fit and firing and mentally bought in then it would be worth it to try. There are not many players who when fit guarantee you 20 goals a season. Lukaku does. The EXTREME level of baggage has to be accounted for of course. But before buying another striker Chelsea must try and sort out the last one they tried to buy.
Mount’s is just heartbreaking. I hold out hope that Mount stays. He’s too fundamental to the spirit of the dressing room and club overall to let leave easily. However, he should also know that negotiating with Manchester United while a Chelsea player is heartbreaking. If he’s willing to throw away everything for a higher salary at a direct rival of ours that’s a hard pill to swallow.