Santi Aouna of Foot Mercato is becoming a top source in the transfer market this summer, and he’s leading the charge with this summer’s news about Saudi Arabian interest in so many of Chelsea’s players.
He reports today that the Saudi government’s head of football is currently in London to negotiate with Chelsea over three players who the club are keen to get rid of – Kalidou Koulibaly, Edouard Mendy and Hakim Ziyech.
There could be more too – “other players” are mentioned (it’s not clear if this refers to just Chelsea players).
If the Blues can shift these three it will make a massive difference to their summer. It clears a vast chunk of our wage bill and empties out out our crowded dressing room in defence, in goal and in attack. If they can pull this off, that’s the perfect start to the Mauricio Pochettino era, giving a blanker slate than he could have hoped for.
The arrival of the Saudi clubs on the scene might just have bailed out Todd Boehly and co. in a big way.
The fact that they could get a really strong fee for some of them, perhaps all of them, is just a massive bonus.