Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca eyeing defensive reinforcements in January.
Chelsea are nearing Conor Gallagher’s sale to Atletico Madrid in a deal estimated to be worth £35 million.
The Englishman is yet another academy product that they have sold in recent years and follows the likes of Ian Maatsen, Mason Mount and Ruben Loftus-Cheek in departing west London due to the club’s need to raise funds.
The Blues have raised nearly £200 million by selling academy graduates since 2021 with the strategy proving fruitful in balancing the club’s books. As per the Premier League’s Profitability & Sustainability Rules, a sale of a player who has developed through the youth system shows an absolute profit during financial accounting.
Following Gallagher’s expected exit, Enzo Maresca blamed the PSR and added that it was not Chelsea’s fault that they had to sell promising academy products. Sky Sports quoted him as saying:
“This is not Chelsea’s problem. This is the rules problem. The clubs are compelled to sell players because of the rules. It’s not a Chelsea problem, it is a Premier League problem. The intention from Chelsea is not to sell – but the rules in the end make us. I love that [Franceso] Totti was at Roma for 20 years and a one-club man. I love that, we all love that. It’s the rules. My personal opinion is it’s a shame because we all like to see a one-club man. If we want to promote academy players – yes, change the rule.”
Enzo Maresca has understandably sided with Chelsea despite being on the verge of losing a midfielder who would have been a massive part of his project following his exploits under Mauricio Pochettino last season.
However, it would be remiss to not debate against Chelsea’s sky-high spending since Todd Boehly purchased the club. Until very recently when the club decided to build a sporting project with younger players, the Blues went berserk in the transfer market, spending over £1 billion in just two years since the American’s takeover.
On just Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo and Mykhaylo Mudryk combined, Chelsea have spent over £300 million whereas other debatable players like the ageing but highly paid Thiago Silva, or £50 million signing Raheem Sterling have been in the squad too.
The west Londoners have also failed in getting rid of deadweight from the squad, and their first-team strength currently sits at an astounding 41 players heading into the 2024/25 season.
The PSR have been set in place to prevent clubs from exploiting their finances and mitigate the risk of the English top-flight’s participants falling into massive debt. As such, not many other clubs barring Chelsea have been under as much pressure to sell players in recent years.
Chelsea’s purchases are set to continue till the ongoing transfer window ends although they will need to pull back at some point and also start selling players not deemed good enough for the first team. Without doing so, it would not be long before they are forced to sell more important and talented figures against their wishes.
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