Vesper

Why Chelsea are early supporters of the new Club World Cup https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5572456/2024/06/19/Chelsea-club-world-cup/ This time next year, FIFA expects to launch the new expanded version of the Club World Cup in the United States, with 32 teams from around the globe competing for supremacy. Chelsea, having completed a second consecutive season without Champions League football, will be back among the elite of the club game. FIFA’s decision to introduce a new competition, which promises 63 matches over a month, to a stretch of the crowded football calendar normally reserved for major international tournaments or summer holidays for players has been controversial. FIFPro and the World Leagues Association have threatened legal action, accusing the governing body of not showing enough consideration for player welfare and the organisation of domestic leagues. GO DEEPER Why are Napoli - and other teams - now so keen to qualify for the men's Club World Cup? But none of those concerns are shared in the corridors of power at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea can be considered enthusiastic early supporters of the Club World Cup, and are factoring it into their decision-making on many levels — not least the move to mutually part with Mauricio Pochettino this summer and hire Enzo Maresca as head coach on a five-year contract. Chelsea were looking at what lies ahead as effectively a double season, with two domestic campaigns bookending the Club World Cup. They wanted to ensure they had a long-term coach in place who fit within their structure and culture to minimise disruption ahead of the tournament. Maresca ticks those boxes to a degree they concluded that Pochettino simply did not. The most urgent priority for Maresca is to lead Chelsea back into the Champions League by securing a top-four finish in the Premier League in 2024-25. But the new Club World Cup is viewed internally alongside the FA Cup, Carabao Cup and Europa Conference League as a serious trophy for him and his squad to target. Considerable thought is also being put into how Chelsea’s squad might be best constructed to deal with as many as 75 or 80 competitive matches across all competitions over the next 12 months. There are also considerations on how pre-season preparations for the 2025-26 campaign might need to be modified in light of Club World Cup exertions. But on the whole, Chelsea do not believe the summer of 2025 will prove any more challenging to navigate than this one, in which a significant number of their players have been called up to the European Championship, Copa America and Olympics. In fact, one arguable benefit of the Club World Cup is that clubs can more directly manage the workload and training schedules of their players than they can influence the approach of national teams. For all the difficulties it poses, the expanded Club World Cup presents what all elite clubs are perennially searching for: a potentially lucrative opportunity for revenue growth. Chelsea’s qualification for the inaugural edition of the competition, secured by winning the Champions League in 2020-21, is already having a positive impact on their “enterprise value” according to respected data and analytics platform Football Benchmark. FIFA is yet to confirm what money will be on offer for Club World Cup participants and the eventual winner as negotiations drag on with potential broadcast and sponsorship partners. Even so, the eventual figures are expected to be meaningful even for a club with Chelsea’s revenue, which broke the £500million ($635m) barrier for the first time in their 2022-23 accounts. As detailed in The Athletic earlier this month, FIFA still has several significant hurdles to overcome to get the expanded Club World Cup off the ground. Chief among them are finalising broadcast deals that balance guaranteed income with TV visibility for a new competition, and sponsorship agreements on a level that ensures they can make participating financially worthwhile for some of Europe’s leading clubs. But there is no doubt at Chelsea that FIFA will make president Gianni Infantino’s big idea a reality next summer, and that it will grow over time into a prized fixture in the football calendar every four years. Real Madrid, despite the public comments of coach Carlo Ancelotti, will participate in 2025. So too will Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Porto, Benfica and Red Bull Salzburg. The last two years have underlined that Chelsea are no longer guaranteed to compete in such rarefied European company. But they could also face the Copa Libertadores holders or the Champions League winners from North America, Asia or Africa. It is the truly global nature of the tournament that distinguishes it and could make it resonate particularly with the huge numbers of elite European club supporters who live overseas. Chelsea view their participation in the Club World Cup as a valuable opportunity to engage with and further grow their sizeable worldwide fanbase. America is a helpful choice of host in that sense — offering a wide range of large, modern stadiums surrounded by hotels and facilities attractive to travelling supporters. There is also the prospect of FIFA partnering with a global streaming platform, making tournament matches readily available to watch on smartphones and tablets anywhere in the world. Most important of all, it is a grand international stage that Chelsea can safely incorporate into their plans. The same cannot be said for the Champions League, though it is hoped that their exile from Europe’s elite club competition is nearing its end. GO DEEPER One year until the Club World Cup in the United States - what's going on?

Chelsea plan to double down on aggressive youth transfers after Estevao Willian signing https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5575306/2024/06/20/Chelsea-aggressive-youth-transfers-estevao-willian/ When Chelsea reached an agreement to sign 17-year-old winger Estevao Willian from Palmeiras, it was significant for a couple of reasons. First is that the fee — £28.7million (€34m, $36.5m) up front, potentially rising to £48.1million with performance-based incentives — took Chelsea’s guaranteed transfer fee commitments on teenagers under Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly above £150million. Second is that it provided the clearest signal yet of where Chelsea’s recruitment strategy is heading: not back towards the established international signings that powered much of the success under Roman Abramovich, but doubling down on an aggressive, coordinated attempt to assemble the best young talent. It is likely that the level of investment in Estevao will remain something of an outlier; Chelsea regard him as a better prospect than his former team-mate Endrick, who they courted extensively before his decision to agree to sign for Real Madrid in December 2022. When he officially moves to Stamford Bridge after his 18th birthday next year, it will be with a view to taking an immediate first-team role. On Thursday, they moved for another promising young player, opening talks with Boca Juniors over the signing of defender Aaron Anselmino. It is increasingly evident Chelsea want to position themselves to recruit every teenage footballer they identify as having elite potential. Clearlake and Boehly are spending six times more than the previous owner on youth recruitment, and intend to scale it up. That money is not solely going into transfer fees on promising teenagers. Chelsea are continuing to build their global scouting and data analytics teams beyond the headline hire of Sam Jewell from Brighton & Hove Albion as director of global recruitment in May, seeking to complement modern digital methods of performance analysis at Cobham with more high-level scouts and recruiters on the ground. As highlighted by the signings of Andrey Santos, Angelo Gabriel, Deivid Washington, Kendry Paez and Estevao, South America is a key area of focus. Chelsea are far from the first club to hone in on this hotbed of talent, but they are dedicating significant resources to building a comprehensive scouting and recruitment network there, led locally by individuals who can use their contacts with agents, academy staff and club owners. One example is Alysson Marins, the former Corinthians chief scout who publicly announced he was joining Chelsea in July 2023. Co-sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley had dealt productively with Marins at their previous clubs and held him in high regard for his recruitment expertise. Chelsea’s vastly increased spending on youth recruitment is most accurately characterised as a redirection of investment. The first-team wage bill, which ballooned to an unwieldy £404million in the 2022-23 accounts, has been drastically reduced to a level significantly lower than in the final years of the Abramovich era. That is unlikely to delight supporters used to seeing Chelsea spend close to every available penny in search of an immediate challenge for major trophies, but Clearlake and Boehly do not believe it is realistic or sustainable to target the world’s best established players at the peak value. They would rather try to sign the potential superstars of tomorrow at a lower cost, develop them in the right way and then retain them. Persuading these teenagers to sign long-term contracts at Chelsea is only the beginning of the challenge. Ensuring continued development is no easy task with first-team minutes at Stamford Bridge relatively limited, though the 2024-25 season could stretch to 75 or 80 matches across all competitions once next summer’s expanded Club World Cup is factored in. One area for potential improvement next season is the use of loans, and Chelsea will have considerably more flexibility under FIFA’s limits if they succeed in offloading Romelu Lukaku and Kepa Arrizabalaga. More developing players are likely to follow the path walked by Gabriel and Santos last season to BlueCo sister club Strasbourg. Agreeing major deals such as the ones for Paez and Estevao raises other developmental considerations. Chelsea have too much invested in them to simply leave them to their own devices at Independiente del Valle and Palmeiras until they are old enough to move to England. Constant communication, support and mentorship is required — without violating FIFA rules — to ensure they continue to grow as players and people. Chelsea insist they always recruit with developmental pathways in mind, rather than out of a desire to stockpile elite talent. That becomes harder to compute when you realise that Estevao is the seventh left-footed attacking midfielder or right-winger under the age of 23 that Clearlake and Boehly have signed in two years, but it is not in the owners interests for these players to stagnate. Laurence and Winstanley have been empowered to implement succession planning with forward-focused recruitment in every position. Estevao and Paez may operate in many of the same areas of the pitch as Cole Palmer, Noni Madueke or (hypothetically) Michael Olise, but they are five years younger. Chelsea aspire to never be left short of the quality they require regardless of who might leave, as the squad evolves. It is fair to ask where the Cobham academy, one of the most prolific producers of top-level footballers, fits into this. Chelsea’s aggressive recruitment under Abramovich too often blocked any realistic route for home-grown talents to break through, and Clearlake and Boehly are keen to ensure the standard to play for the first team remains every bit as high. But part of Laurence and Winstanley’s remit is to more closely integrate the academy, creating and maintaining pathways for the best products to transition to the first team, ideally without the need for loan spells elsewhere. One reason Sport Recife defender Pedro Lima is choosing between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Strasbourg rather than Wolves and Chelsea this summer is because Josh Acheampong, who made his Premier League debut against Tottenham Hotspur in May, is viewed internally as being in front of him. Chelsea expect to go into next season with as many as 10 homegrown players in their first-team squad, headlined by club captain Reece James and Levi Colwill. But the best Cobham graduates will be challenged to compete with elite young signings for minutes, and those not regarded as being of that level will be sold. The prevailing philosophy can be summarised as ‘steel sharpens steel’: that the best Chelsea’s academy produces will be elevated to greater heights by young signings, and vice versa. Estevao and Paez will add their considerable talents to that mix next year. More will follow.

Chelsea open talks with Boca Juniors over Aaron Anselmino transfer https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5578387/2024/06/20/Chelsea-aaron-anselmino-transfer/ Chelsea have opened talks with Boca Juniors over the signing of defender Aaron Anselmino. The 19-year-old, who can also play in midfield, has played just 10 times for the senior Boca Juniors side so far having come through the Argentine club’s youth ranks. Despite his career being at such an early stage, Anselmino’s performances has led to speculation over interest from European clubs in recent months. Chelsea have made a move to beat any potential competition for the teenager’s signature by starting initial discussions with Boca over signing him. There are reports in Argentina suggesting Chelsea have offered a fee worth £14.1million plus a further £3.1m in add-ons. This has not been confirmed by Chelsea but they are negotiating over the fee. Anselmino is not the only young transfer target from South America on their wishlist though. Looking for some of the best emerging talent in the region is just part of Chelsea’s recruitment model. Last month they agreed a deal worth up to €57m for Palmeiras winger Willian Estevao. The 17-year-old will officially join up with the squad next summer, after he has turned 18. GO DEEPER Chelsea's aggressive youth recruitment means days of signing players at peak are over

June 30 – the transfer deadline making rival Premier League clubs friends with benefits https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5578737/2024/06/21/transfers-between-premier-league-clubs/ There is not a Premier League club prepared to admit it, but June 30 has become a date laden with significance. The end of football’s financial year represents the final cut-off point for compliance, one last opportunity to tidy up a club’s books. Sell a player and solve your problems. Fail and fear the repercussions. These final days of June and the business they bring can be the difference between conformity and a breach of the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR). Everton and Nottingham Forest can attest to that. Both have tried to offload an asset and retreat under the allowable losses threshold in summers past, but failing to do so eventually brought disciplinary hearings and points deductions. This summer, clubs are seeking silver bullets in the transfer market again — but this time around their shared problems are leading to mutually beneficial solutions. Aston Villa, Chelsea and Everton, three clubs thought to be sailing close to the PSR wind, have all spent the week negotiating deals that will strengthen their positions ahead of June 30. Ian Maatsen, the talented left-back, will leave Chelsea to join Villa for £37.5million ($47.5m), while a deal had also been proposed for striker Jhon Duran to head in the opposite direction for a similar sum. Villa have opened up a line with Everton, too. As well as lining up winger Lewis Dobbin from Goodison Park, they could send midfielder Tim Iroegbunam in the opposite direction. Two separate deals for sums in the same ballpark, this time about £9million. Such deals and potential deals promise to fill holes in squads ahead of 2024-25 but, importantly, also improve PSR positions before June 30. Premier League rivals are becoming friends with benefits. What is the relevance of June 30? A date that looms on the horizon marks the end of English football’s financial year. Accounting periods typically run from July 1 to June 30 and the numbers that are posted matter. Every club is allowed total losses of £105million over a rolling three-year period in the Premier League, adjusted for those clubs not in the division for all three years. Go north of that, as Everton (twice) and Nottingham Forest did, and there will be trouble. All clubs will be aware of their positions — good, bad or indifferent — as the end of another financial year rolls around, with these closing weeks of June a last chance to remedy problems. Forest’s disciplinary hearing, published in March, underlined the importance of June 30. Aware of their overspending in the period under assessment, Forest made attempts to sell star man Brennan Johnson to be compliant. That sale, to Tottenham for £47.5million did not come until the final days of the summer window, too late to address a spending breach of £34.5m that brought an eventual four-point deduction. Cards are being kept close to chests this summer but the business discussed by Aston Villa, Chelsea and Everton this week would indicate those three clubs are all open to improving their financial results in the next 10 days. How do these deals benefit clubs? If we start with the biggest — Maatsen’s move to Villa — it will be a significant boost to Chelsea. A youngster who joined aged 16, his book value will be close to zero. That £37.5million, therefore, can effectively be added to the profit column and immediately redress the losses Chelsea have incurred over the last three years. Villa, meanwhile, do not need take the equivalent hit. That £37.5million can be amortised, or spread, over five years, meaning only £7.5million shows up on the books every year. That can also be amortised on a monthly basis to ensure almost none of the outlay shows up in the 2023-24 accounts. Selling Duran would not have been as beneficial to Villa as the sale of Maatsen has been to Chelsea, but it would still have been a welcome windfall. The business drawn up between Villa and Everton this week carries similar benefits. In selling Dobbin to Villa, Everton will be able to book the entire fee as profit in their 2023-24 accounts, owing to the winger’s status as an academy graduate. Villa, meanwhile, are able to amortise the cost over the length of Dobbin’s contract. So a £10million purchase, for example, could be spread over five years, ensuring the player only shows up as £2million annual outlay. Roles would be reversed in the Iroegbunam transfer. Everton could amortise the cost, while Villa book a useful profit on a player they signed from West Bromwich Albion two years ago without recommitting the sum to Dobbin in their own accounts. Both clubs win without losing a player. There was a time when Dobbin and Iroegbunam, players with similar market values, would simply have been swapped. That option would still have been open for Villa and Everton but it is telling that the two transfers are being treated as separate transactions, independent of the other. It all effectively amounts to helpful accounting ahead of June 30, replacing one asset with another for mutual benefit. Lewis Dobbin may be on the move this summer (Tony McArdle/Everton FC/Getty Images) Is this kind of trading all within the rules? There is nothing to stop clubs from buying and selling players with each other in any of these cases and the motives for doing so are irrelevant. Aston Villa, Chelsea and Everton can state it is business that benefits the make-up of their squad and any further advantages gained are incidental. Any Premier League club, whether buyer or seller, would theoretically need to do is satisfy the regulations in place. As a result of Newcastle United’s takeover by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) in 2021, rules were introduced to ensure all transactions would be checked to ensure they did not exceed “fair market value”. That was a move primarily focused on limiting how much Newcastle could secure through Saudi sponsorship deals but, as in the case of Allan Saint-Maximin’s £30million move to PIF-owned Al Ahli, also covered transfers — clubs with the same owner could not bail each other out with a price inflated for the purpose. There has already been grumblings from within the Premier League over the definition of ‘fair market value’ and how it is judged, and that is particularly challenging with player valuations. It grows even more onerous when two unconnected clubs are doing business in an open market. GO DEEPER Dobbin and Iroegbunam are set to switch clubs - why do Villa and Everton want to sell to each other? Has there ever been anything similar to this before? The biggest trade to ever cause surprise perhaps involved Juventus and Barcelona in the summer of 2020. Miralem Pjanic, who had just turned 30, was sold by Juventus to Barcelona for €60million (£51m $64m); while Arthur headed in the opposite direction for €72m (£61m; $77m). It would later transpire that only €12m (£10m; $13m) changed hands but both Juventus and Barcelona, facing huge financial pressures in the midst of the Covid pandemic, were able to book handsome profits. Juventus always argued the deal was legitimate and in breach of no rules. That deal was eventually the most high-profile case of the 62 transfers investigated by the Italian Football Federation (FICG), with 42 involving Juventus. They were referred to as “mirror” deals and also included the 2019 trade when Danilo (€37m; £31m; $40m) joined Juventus and Joao Cancelo (€65m; £55m; $70m) moved to Manchester City. The FICG’s case, which included a further 10 clubs, essentially collapsed due to the challenges of establishing the value of a footballer. A subsequent investigation into the club’s transfer dealings, though, found evidence of false accounting and saw Juventus docked 10 points. The Pjanic and Arthur trade has become infamous but there is nothing to suggest any wrongdoing in the business proposed in the Premier League this summer. GO DEEPER Which clubs are going to spend in this summer's transfer window?

Who is Chelsea transfer target Samu Omorodion and would he fit Maresca’s system? https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5576228/2024/06/19/Chelsea-transfer-samu-omorodion/ It is easy to see why Chelsea made an offer for Atletico Madrid striker Samu Omorodion. He is one of several forwards the club are looking at, but their bid of €32.5million (£27.4m) plus add-ons was turned down. The 20-year-old joined Atletico from fellow Spaniards Granada in August but is yet to play for them, having spent last season out on loan at another La Liga side, Alaves. When comparing Omorodion to the leading strikers at Chelsea’s Premier League rivals, there are plenty of similarities. Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, the division’s most prolific and dominating forward, Darwin Nunez of Liverpool and Manchester United’s Rasmus Hojlund share certain traits with the Spain youth international. All four are tall, quick, and physically imposing — seemingly the prototype for the modern No 9. If you put these attributes into a spreadsheet of Europe’s top five domestic leagues and restricted the results to players under 21, Omorodion would be a standout among the names high on the resulting list. But who is he and what could he offer? Get the latest transfer news on The Athletic… Transfer news and analysis | Follow David Ornstein Join The Athletic Insiders WhatsApp channel Sign up for The Athletic FC newsletter Omorodion was born in Melilla, an autonomous city of Spain that sits on the north African coast, surrounded by Morocco and a six-hour ferry ride from the Spanish mainland. Raised in Seville, he was rejected by Sevilla as a child and developed at AD Nervion, a local amateur club, where the president gave him a €5 bonus for every goal he scored to pay his bus fare. While scouts from Sevilla and neighbours Real Betis attributed Omorodion’s dominance in youth football to his physicality, his coaches at Nervion saw an emerging talent with instinct and intelligence. He got his break at 17, signing for Granada, and impressed in his first full season with their B team, scoring 14 goals in 29 games in Spain’s fourth tier. Then, after opening last season with a goal on his La Liga debut for Granada against them, Atletico bought Omorodion for €6million (£5.1m/$6.4m at current exchange rates) and immediately loaned the then 19-year-old out to Alaves. At Alaves, based in northern Spain’s Basque Country, he scored nine goals in 35 La Liga appearances last season, his first in Spain’s top flight, as they finished 10th in the 20-team top flight. “He’s a player with a privileged physique, imposing just looking at him,” said Alaves head coach Luis Garcia. “Big, strong, fast, wants to learn and improve. His movement into space is very good, and he wins a lot of duels. He needs to demand more of himself to become a really top player.” Omorodion’s non-penalty expected goals (xG) of 0.52 places him in the 85th percentile among similar players in Europe’s top five leagues (meaning just 15 per cent were better). Scoring those nine goals from an xG figure of 11.5 suggests a slight underperformance but indicates potential for growth, which could come with time spent on the training ground. For comparison, Nicolas Jackson, Chelsea’s striker signing from La Liga (Villarreal in his case) last summer, scored 14 times from an xG of 18.6. His exceptional pace — Spanish news outlet Marca claims he was among the fastest players in La Liga last season, with a top speed of 34.5km/h — has made him a constant threat to many teams in the division, and he uses his imposing frame to bulldoze through defences. Here, against Almeria, Omorodion assesses Chumi and realises he can outpace the 25-year-old defender. Instead of cutting in, he takes Chumi down the line, successfully getting past him. This forces goalkeeper Luis Maximiano to rush out and foul Omorodion. Omorodion is a “fox in the box”, with excellent off-ball positioning in the final third. He has an impressive habit of finding space inside the opposition box, which improves his chances of finishing or getting into better positions from which to score. This can force defenders to constantly adjust and react, creating confusion and opening spaces for other attackers. Below is that goal he scored for Granada against Atletico at the start of last season. As soon as Gonzalo Villar wins the ball back, Omorodion instantly considers his best move. Spotting Stefan Savic nearby, he distances himself by dropping back, creating space. Omorodion then signals for the ball to be played into that gap. Before Savic can react, Omorodion exploits the room he’s made for himself, receives the pass and scores. While Omorodion is excellent in open space, he is limited in the build-up phase — at this early stage in his career, he relies on service from team-mates and is not a primary creator. He averaged only 0.81 progressive passes per 90 minutes (putting him in the seventh percentile) and created 1.49 shot-creating actions per 90 minutes, significantly fewer than Jackson (3.05) did for Chelsea last season. These are areas he would have to improve in under new head coach Enzo Maresca. Still, Chelsea’s opening bid suggests they are aware Omorodion is not yet quite at the level they require to lead the line for their first team. The Spain Under-21 international, who is also eligible for Nigeria through his parentage, is a raw talent, but the attributes of a potentially dominant striker are all visible. With David Datro Fofana, Romelu Lukaku and Armando Broja all still on the books, it is curious Chelsea are targeting a striker of Omorodion’s profile at this stage of the window. However, under the ownership of Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly over the past two years, the west London club have prioritised younger signings in the transfer market. While bringing in a new No 9 was always a priority for this summer, given the challenges of staying within profit and sustainability rules (PSR), Chelsea cannot look at high-profile, high-fee options such as Napoli’s Victor Osimhen. Nor are they looking to replace or relegate Jackson after just one season. Broja’s likely sale in this window after being loaned to Fulham for the second half of last season creates an opening for another striker to come in and compete with Jackson for minutes up front. Chelsea believe there will be plenty of those to go around, with the return of European football in the 2024-25 Conference League and then FIFA’s expanded Club World Cup next June and July. Omorodion is not the only striker Chelsea are looking at, but he is indicative of the specific profile they want. He is mobile, physically imposing, and can compete with burly Premier League centre-backs while being technical, and positionally fluid enough to fit into Maresca’s system. While he does not yet excel in the build-up phase of attacks, Maresca’s experience working with off-the-shoulder strikers such as Jamie Vardy and Patson Daka at Leicester City last season suggests he can find solutions with attackers who are not seamless fits in his system. Omorodion’s debut La Liga campaign, in which he impressed in a limited Alaves team mostly as a 19-year-old (he turned 20 on May 5), also marks him out as the kind of emerging talent Chelsea co-sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley have been tasked with collecting in every position. He may not end up at Stamford Bridge in the blue shirt as Atletico are very keen to retain him, but Chelsea’s interest in Omorodion is consistent with the club’s broader recruitment strategy. GO DEEPER Which Premier League team has the toughest start to the 2024-25 season?

Chelsea need transfers out for PSR purposes – but who does it make most sense to sell? https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5578154/2024/06/21/Chelsea-transfer-psr-sell-sales/ The days are ticking down towards June 30, which means Chelsea’s repeated insistence that they do not need to sell players by the 2023-24 accounting deadline to remain compliant with the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability regulations (PSR) will be put to the test. Many respected football finance analysts believe otherwise. Based on his examination of the club’s published 2022-23 accounts, Swiss Ramble projected that Chelsea need to generate a PSR profit of £36million ($46m) in their 2023-24 accounts to avoid losing more than the Premier League’s maximum allowable loss of £105m over a three-year monitoring period. There is always a possibility that Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly have found another creative accounting workaround, as they did in banking £76.5million profit for effectively selling the two hotels outside Stamford Bridge to themselves in 2022-23. But assuming that player sales will be the primary driver of Chelsea’s ongoing PSR compliance, it is likely they have more work to do before June 30. This is the case even after recouping £55million from Mason Mount’s move to Manchester United last summer, £28million for turning Lewis Hall’s loan at Newcastle into a sale and agreeing a fee just over £35million to send Ian Maatsen to Aston Villa this month. The easiest way for any club to dig themselves out of a PSR hole is to sell homegrown players, who count as pure profit on the books. Chelsea have already been active in this regard, and have several more options within their ranks to generate significant further transfer revenue — as well as other players who would command real interest. However, financial compliance is not the only consideration. What do the players in question mean for the squad dynamic and its tactical balance, not to mention the relationship between the club and their match-going supporters? And what might be the opportunity cost of selling them now? Conor Gallagher He led Chelsea’s entire first-team squad in minutes (4,061) played across all competitions in the 2023-24 season, many of those while wearing the captain’s armband. Cole Palmer was the undisputed player of the season at Stamford Bridge, but Gallagher had a strong claim to be the runner-up for that particular honour. Supporters love him and every coach he has ever worked with trusts him. Mauricio Pochettino pointedly called him “priceless”; Chelsea’s valuation is at least £50million and it is very conceivable they could get offers in that range this summer, with Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur among Gallagher’s most notable admirers. Gallagher’s contract expires in 12 months and there is no indication of movement towards an extension. He wants to stay at Chelsea but if the club decide they would rather have the profit than the player, the time to cash in is now — though he has considerable leverage after a career-best season and cannot be sold against his wishes. Completing any deal before July 1 looks particularly difficult because Gallagher is focused on helping England at Euro 2024. Emotion: A group of Chelsea season ticket holders have begun making and selling T-shirts with the message, “IF THEY SELL CONOR, WE RIOT!!” Things are unlikely to go that far, but it is easy to imagine the atmosphere at Stamford Bridge growing more toxic early next season if the club are seen as having pushed out a homegrown fan favourite. PSR: Of the players that Chelsea would realistically consider selling, Gallagher is the one who would bring in the biggest fee. As he is homegrown, every penny of that £50million or more would help offset the transfer spending that Clearlake and Boehly have overseen or the spending they plan to do after July 1. Tactical importance: That is less clear. Pochettino viewed Gallagher as indispensable, deploying him as a pressing No 10, a box-to-box No 8, a dynamic No 6 and even starting from the left flank. New head coach Enzo Maresca has a different system and style of play that could shift the existing squad hierarchy. GO DEEPER How much like Pep Guardiola is Enzo Maresca? Opportunity cost: Gallagher has proved himself a better, more versatile player than some within Chelsea believed him to be. How much more improvement is in him? At the very least, he could be a very helpful player to an elite squad who happens to have an ironclad allegiance to his boyhood club and a model professional attitude. That is not lightly discarded. Levi Colwill No academy graduate on Chelsea’s books is more coveted than Colwill, who spurned serious interest from Liverpool and Brighton & Hove Albion to sign a long-term contract last summer. Given his age and prized profile as a ball-playing left-sided centre-back, the 21-year-old could fetch closer to £100million than £50million on the open market. But that is precisely why Chelsea consider him untouchable, and there is no longer any noise about his future lying away from Stamford Bridge. Despite his absence from Gareth Southgate’s final squad for Euro 2024 after a club season disrupted by injury and extended deployments at left-back, Colwill is expected to blossom into England’s best centre-back in the coming years and his prominence on the pitch at Chelsea should reflect that sooner rather than later. Emotion: Colwill has not had as much time to build a connection with match-going Chelsea fans as Gallagher or Reece James, but he is viewed as an elite Cobham talent and a possible future club captain. Leaving before that potential can be fulfilled would sting. PSR: Given his reputation within the wider game, Colwill could command a fee of as much as £100million if Chelsea were inclined to make him available. Tactical importance: Maresca wants his centre-backs to be comfortable playing around and through opposition pressure as well as defending high up the pitch. Colwill is not the only good option at his disposal, but he ticks all of those boxes. Opportunity cost: Whatever price Chelsea could get for Colwill might be rendered scant consolation for the player he becomes in his prime years. They are well aware of that, which is why he is not for sale. Armando Broja The last 12 months have been deeply frustrating for Broja, and unhelpful to his transfer value. He was denied the regular minutes at Chelsea to rediscover his best rhythm after an anterior cruciate ligament injury. Broja then decided to join Fulham on loan in January 2024 just as Rodrigo Muniz suddenly morphed into one of the Premier League’s most dangerous strikers. Broja is now hoping to make a mark for Albania at Euro 2024, and Chelsea hope he does so too. Their valuation of £35million seems optimistic in light of the year the 22-year-old has endured, but it reflects their belief that many clubs in England and Europe will find his physical and technical attributes attractive. In an interview with The Athletic this month, Broja indicated he would also be interested in a fresh start. “Nothing has been decided yet, but if I need to go somewhere else to get back in my groove, then I would want to do that,” he said. Emotion: There were more than a few frustrated groans around Stamford Bridge at the sight of Broja’s struggles in the first half of last season, even as many recognise he is still working his way back from a serious injury. A sale would likely be forgiven because there is little confidence he will develop into an elite No 9, or even a striker on par with Tammy Abraham. PSR: Chelsea hope to net as much as £35million for Broja, but might need to settle for less if they are truly motivated to sell him this summer. Tactical importance: Nicolas Jackson is the first-choice No 9 at Stamford Bridge after a largely promising debut season, and Chelsea are exploring their options to sign another striker with the skill set that Maresca requires. GO DEEPER Chelsea's €32.5m bid for Omorodion rejected Opportunity cost: Chelsea’s owners and decision-makers were enthusiastic about Broja’s potential in 2022 when they tied him to a six-year contract. There is a chance that he could still become an elite No 9 one day, but that appears to be a risk they are willing to take. Trevoh Chalobah Chelsea were open to selling Chalobah within months of signing him to a six-year contract extension in November 2022, and are assessing his market again this summer. Tosin Adarabioyo’s arrival on a free transfer makes Chalobah even more expendable, but his return to Chelsea’s starting XI in the final weeks of last season coincided with the team’s strong finish under Pochettino. He believes he belongs at this level and is prepared to compete for his place in the team. GO DEEPER The Athletic 500 transfer ratings: Tosin Adarabioyo to Chelsea That makes selling Chalobah far from straightforward. He rejected a move to Nottingham Forest last summer because he had no interest in signing up for a Premier League relegation battle, and if he does have to leave Chelsea, it would ideally be to join a club of similar stature. With four years left on his deal, he has no incentive to look elsewhere. Emotion: Chalobah is well-liked by many supporters, another Cobham success story who grew up dreaming of playing for Chelsea. He carries that deep connection onto the pitch. PSR: The £25million offer Chelsea accepted from Nottingham Forest last summer might prove to be on the high side for Chalobah in this window, particularly if he is selective about the clubs he would consider joining. Tactical importance: Chelsea have options they like in all the positions that Chalobah plays but the fact that he can do a solid job at centre-back, right-back or defensive midfield is useful. Opportunity cost: There is no expectation that Chalobah, now 24, will blossom into a world-class centre-back elsewhere. But he is a solid squad option who cost nothing to acquire and, if allowed to stay, could be part of a homegrown core that maintains a consistent culture and standard at Chelsea for years to come. Omari Hutchinson Though not a Cobham graduate, the cost to prise Hutchinson from London rivals Arsenal in the summer of 2022 was so negligible that a significant sale this summer would yield a big profit — even with Arsenal entitled to a percentage of any future fee. His stock is high, too, having played a key role in Ipswich Town’s promotion from the Championship. They have already enquired about signing him permanently, but other clubs in the Premier League and across Europe have also been in touch. Hutchinson has one guaranteed year remaining on his contract, with Chelsea holding an option for a further 12 months. Now is the optimal time to sell or extend him. Emotion: Despite making two first-team appearances for Chelsea, Hutchinson has not been involved enough at Stamford Bridge for his potential departure to hurt much. PSR: Hutchinson is commanding enough transfer interest to garner a relatively sizeable fee and, while it would not be pure profit, it would make a difference to Chelsea’s bottom line. Tactical importance: Hutchinson’s path to first-team prominence at Chelsea looks blocked by Palmer, Noni Madueke and, potentially, Michael Olise. Opportunity cost: He is a skilful, explosive winger with the talent to become a difference-maker in the Premier League, so it is not impossible that Chelsea would be selling low on him. GO DEEPER Omari Hutchinson: 'The ultimate aim is the Champions League. I have a picture as my screensaver' Andrey Santos There is already confidence at Chelsea that they could recoup several times the initial £13million they paid to sign Andrey Santos from Vasco da Gama in January 2023. But there is no desire to make him available. Chelsea’s enthusiasm about Andrey Santos’ potential has not been dimmed in the slightest by an unproductive loan at Forest last season. He finished the campaign very strongly with BlueCo sister club Strasbourg, where head coach Patrick Vieira is a huge admirer. GO DEEPER Chelsea, Strasbourg, BlueCo and a multi-club model yet to convince a sceptical fanbase The 20-year-old has options again this summer, but do not expect Chelsea to consider selling: they believe he has a real chance to make himself a first-team fixture in time. Emotion: Andrey Santos leaving Chelsea without making a single competitive appearance would barely cause a ripple at Stamford Bridge, beyond sparking distaste among some at what it would say about Clearlake and Boehly’s player-trading operation. PSR: There is scope for a profitable sale here, but Andrey Santos is not anywhere near the top of Chelsea’s preferred players to offload. Tactical importance: While not in the first-team picture yet, he could develop into a real No 6 or No 8 option for Maresca. Opportunity cost: Andrey Santos has barely scratched the surface of what Chelsea believe his potential to be. Selling now is not a desirable option. Lesley Ugochukwu The tall, imposing 20-year-old signed from Rennes last summer remains something of an unknown quantity at Chelsea as his first season was plagued by injury. A little more than 300 minutes played across 12 Premier League matches were not enough to properly assess Ugochukwu’s readiness to play for Chelsea, but he will probably be behind Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia at the very least under Maresca. It is also likely an insufficient sample to persuade another club to offer more than the £23.5million that Chelsea paid to acquire him 12 months ago. If it is decided that he will not get adequate developmental opportunities at Stamford Bridge, a loan makes more sense. PSR: There does not seem to be much chance of a benefit here, and perhaps even more risk of an accounting loss if Chelsea were to sell after so little playing time. Tactical importance: Ugochukwu has an intriguing blend of attributes that could make him a Premier League No 6 or No 8 in the medium to long term. But Chelsea are very unlikely to be depending on him to win matches for some time. Opportunity cost: If the recruitment team at Chelsea believed only a year ago that Ugochukwu was worth such a sizeable transfer fee, selling so soon would be more than a little strange.

Michael Olise chooses to join Bayern Munich from Crystal Palace https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5582013/2024/06/21/michael-olise-bayern-munich-transfer/ Crystal Palace winger Michael Olise has decided to join Bayern Munich. The 22-year-old France youth international has been of interest to a number of clubs this summer but he has opted for the Bundesliga side. Bayern are now expected to agree a deal with Palace. The Athletic revealed that the German club had contacted Palace, while Chelsea were given the go ahead to speak to Olise before deciding the finances involved were beyond reach and chose not to proceed. Newcastle United also approached Palace while Manchester United and Manchester City have retained a strong interest in the player. Olise was close to completing a move to Chelsea last summer but he opted to stay at Selhurst Park, signing a new four-year deal. Olise, who joined Palace in 2021, scored 10 goals and provided six assists in 19 appearances during a standout 2023-24 campaign under new manager Oliver Glasner despite his campaign being disrupted by a hamstring injury. His star further rose when he was named in France Under-23 head coach Thierry Henry’s preliminary squad for this summer’s Olympic Games. The men’s football tournament runs from July 24 to August 9, when the gold medal match is scheduled to take place in Paris. If France make it to the final, Olise would have just two weeks to recover before the opening day of the 2024-25 Bundesliga campaign.

good, gets him out of the league in terms of killing us on Manure or Citeh or Arse

he cleary did not want to come here, not last year, and not now

I knew it was coming never got my hopes up (as evidenced by my lack of posts on it)

do it

full replay of Argentina v Canada in the opening game of Copa America https://www.fullreplays.com/conmebol/copa-america/argentina-vs-canada-21-jun-2024/ watching now, I have no clue who won

Karim Konaté or Eli Junior Kroupi

The price is great, and he is uspect defensive CuCu has been playing great for months now I think we need to settle it about Chilwell and injuries if we think he is just always going to be hurt, then the best affordable LB options are Rayan Aït-Nouri Miguel Gutiérrez Antonee Robinson Milos Kerkez Jayden Oosterwolde Bradley Locko

both of these 2 are worth a hard look Rogers scored against us and is a right footed LWer, which we need and Sousa has great size and pace, plus is a LB

I posted on him a month ago he looks pretty solid and Boca Jrs players often do well in europe he is one of top 2 teen Argie CBs atm his release clause is susposedly £21m, which is steep Tobias Palacio is the other top rated teen Argie CB

Lautaro Martínez Victor Osimhen Julián Álvarez hard AF Alexander Isak hard AF Dušan Vlahović Viktor Gyökeres Benjamin Sesko Jonathan David Loïs Openda Joshua Zirkzee Ivan Toney

700 games for club and country 153 goals, 158 assists scored in the World Cup, the Euros, and the Cofederations Cup won: Valencia Copa del Rey: 2007–08 Chelsea FA Cup: 2011–12 UEFA Champions League: 2011–12 UEFA Europa League: 2012–13 Manchester United FA Cup: 2015–16 EFL Cup: 2016–17 FA Community Shield: 2016 UEFA Europa League: 2016–17 Galatasaray Süper Lig: 2022–23 Vissel Kobe J1 League: 2023 Spain UEFA European Under-19 Championship: 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship: 2011 FIFA World Cup: 2010 UEFA European Championship: 2012

better teams want him he is stalling waiting for offers

LW he is a right footer

think about it why would he have a blank no logo shirt from summer/fall 2023?

Fake that is a doctored pic of Caicedo fake real

I have never gotten my hopes up for pulling Olise. I think, atm, that it is 60 to 70 per cent a fail. I hope I am wrong.