Chelsea football club has been in utter chaos in the last three years as they have gone from Champions League winners to mid-table side in the Premier League. The core of the title-winning team has left with the big high-profile signings under Todd Boehly now filling in for the heroes of Roman Abramovich. While Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) are now starting to worry the American owner of Chelsea, it is predicted that he could be on a series of rapid-fire sales in the coming days with the Saudi Pro League (SPL) looked as the possible destination to balance the pay slip.
Chelsea Transfer News
“There’s going to be a fire sale of talent at Chelsea. My sources have told me that Todd Boehly was down in Saudi Arabia, potentially trying to arrange sales for some players ahead of time,” former Everton chief Keith Wyness said on Friday (Mar 15).
“There is a connection down there. Michael Emenalo is now the supremo of the Saudi Pro League and has a long relationship with Chelsea. It could be that the Saudi League is the big escape hatch for Chelsea. If that’s the case, then they could just about get away without any punishments,” Wyness further added to his statement.
The SPL is seen as the biggest market to release players for big-money sums which in return has helped balance the pay slip. This is not the first time Chelsea could use the foreign market as a medium to balance their PSR and Financial Fair Play (FFP) aspect. During the second half of the last decade, Chelsea sold players like Nicolas Anelka, Oscar, John Obi Mikel and Ramires to get big sums and thus compete with other teams with financial constraints.
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Chelsea transfer approach
A similar pattern could now be followed under the reign of Todd Boehly as Chelsea will need to first sell players before buying. Last season they either sold or released players like Kalidou Koulibaly (Al Hilal), Edouard Mendy (Al Ahli) and N’Golo Kante (Al Ittihad) to SPL clubs helping them bring parity on the PSR and FFP coefficient.
The summer of 2024 will also have to follow a similar pattern for the Blues as they need to sell players before bringing in new names. According to reports, players on big salaries and or in the final few months of their contracts could be sold. SPL’s ability to pay big could make matters interesting as Chelsea are likely to sell players like Romelu Lukaku, Ian Maatsen, Trevoh Chalobah and Marc Cucurella.
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