ESPN’s James Olley has today written an update on the whispers we heard yesterday from insiders like Fabrizio Romano.
Romano was responding to rumours from earlier in the week which claimed that Chelsea were considering selling Reece James this summer due to the vast losses accumulating on their books after £1bn spent on players in the last couple of years.
The Italian insider insisted that selling James was not part of Chelsea’s plans, and Olley’s piece has backed that up – although he has added two players to the list of those for sale.
The way that UEFA’s Financial Fair Play guidelines and the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) work mean that home grown players are more profitable to sell, as there was no fee paid for them initially. This is what keeps dragging James’ name into the conversation, but in fact it’s looking more likely to be Trevoh Chalobah and Conor Gallagher who leave in the summer, according to the “sources” Olley cites.
That’s despite both of that pair having been consistent starters for Mauricio Pochettino when fit, with Gallagher captaining the team in most games this season and Chalobah usurping more senior central defenders almost from the moment he was back from injury earlier this year.
Selling two players who start, to fund the fees for players you’ve bought who aren’t starting (whether that’s because of injury, quality of form) is of course totally backwards, but the club has to dig themselves out of this hole somehow.
