Chelsea's sale of unwanted stars harmed by coach's comments
Chelsea has undoubtedly received plenty of attention regarding transfers in recent years. After all, the club has spent around $1.4 billion on a plethora of new players since new ownership came aboard in 2022.
Not only have the Blues overhauled their roster in just two years, but they bloated it to include over 40 players earlier this summer.
The precarious situation came to a head in August when new head coach Enzo Maresca addressed the issue.
However, instead of easing concerns regarding his roster, the coach made matters worse. Maresca claimed that he was not even working with around 20 players in the team.
Not only did the Italian exile the players from regular training but he also essentially labeled the group as unwanted.
Nearly every club typically has to deal with similar situations during the summer months. Nevertheless, Maresca’s public comments about the undesired players basically devalued them in the transfer market.
Chelsea’s sale of unwanted stars struggled
Chelsea entered the summer window’s final days, looking to offload several stars. However, the Blues only sold two players on permanent deals following Maresca’s comments.
One of these moves, Romelu Lukaku’s switch to Napoli, was previously in the works for most of the summer.
Chelsea had been demanding around $44 million for the Belgian star striker throughout the window. Napoli remained adamant that they would not meet these demands. In the end, the Blues caved and sanctioned the sale of Lukaku for $33 million.
The other permanent deal during this timeframe involved teen prospect Angelo Gabriel. Chelsea previously purchased the phenom for about $17 million in 2023 and sent him out on loan for the 2023/24 season. The Blues then sold Angelo to Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr earlier this month in a deal worth $25 million.
Several loan deals also not financially friendly to club
Along with these two moves, Chelsea also sent several players out on loan before the summer window closed.
This list of stars included Raheem Sterling, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Armando Broja, Trevoh Chalobah, and David Datro Fofana. The Blues would have undoubtedly preferred to sell the quintet but failed to receive suitable offers.
Several of these temporary moves were also not exactly friendly deals for Chelsea. For instance, the West London side did not even receive a loan fee from Arsenal for Sterling.
The Gunners are also only paying a portion of the star winger’s salary as well. In the end, Chelsea is reportedly paying Sterling around $13 million to play for their rivals this season.
The deals involving Broja and Chalobah were not quite what Chelsea was expecting either. Both players clearly do not have a future at the club but were only sent away for season-long loans. The striker ended up signing with Everton and the defender joined Crystal Palace. Neither deal, however, included mandatory clauses to make the moves permanent.
Fofana also previously looked set for a permanent switch as well. However, the forward eventually made a late move to Turkish side Goztepe on a simple loan deal.
In the end, Maresca’s previous remarks appear to have backed the club into a corner regarding the unwanted players.
Because many of these stars are on temporary deals, the Blues may have to go through the situation all over again next summer.
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