Things are starting to heat up behind the scenes at Chelsea, with owner Todd Boehly needing to make some big decisions over the next couple of months in order to not fall foul of FFP regulations.
According to The Times, the Blues have reported a huge financial loss for the second season running, and as such, there is a very real possibility that the club will need to consider moving on a number of their stars.
That in itself will make life difficult for manager Graham Potter who has struggled to make an impact as manager of the Stamford Bridge outfit.
Although the Blues have an outside chance of claiming another Champions League crown, they’ve flattered to deceive domestically and currently find themselves sitting in 10th position in the table.
The chance of the west Londoners not even qualifying for a meaningful European competition next season is real, given that they are the worst scorers out of the top 11 teams (per the official Premier League website), and that merely adds to Boehly’s problems.
Help could be at hand, however, if the Blues owner sanctions the same of a number of first-team players.
The Sun say that could include the likes of Christian Pulisic, Romelu Lukaku, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Hakim Ziyech, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Callum Hudson-Odoi, which would save the club some £60m a year in salary.
That doesn’t take into account any sale of Mason Mount, who is rumoured to be a target for Bayern Munich say The Times.
Were all of the players mentioned moved on, it would certainly give Boehly some financial breathing space, but whether such a revolution would help the squad in the short and long-term is anyone’s guess.
Continuity and consistency is surely better than frittering money on all and sundry only to have to then claw it all back in what would amount to nothing more than a fire sale of some of your best assets.