With the summer transfer window fast approaching, one Chelsea player has now reportedly decided to leave Stamford Bridge in the coming months with "talks ongoing".
Chelsea's summer plans
Whilst the Blues are unlikely to have their summer plan confirmed until they have their Champions League fate sealed, that uncertainty has not stood in the way of several rumours from emerging. And, as ever, it looks as though BlueCo could spend big in an attempt to push Enzo Maresca's side into Europe's elite competition, plus plenty more once again.
On that front, names such as Dean Huijsen and Ollie Watkins have both been mentioned as targets in recent weeks in moves that would also weaken both Aston Villa and Bournemouth.
Ollie-Watkins-Maatsen
Watkins would be a particularly interesting addition, especially amid Cole Palmer's recent struggles. The arrival of his England teammate could quickly revive the Blues' best player and, therefore, help Maresca's side to rediscover their best form once and for all.
Ahead of the Liverpool game, it's clear that Palmer needs a goal more than ever in the Premier League and Chelsea need their best player at the very top of his game if they are to seal Champions League qualification in their final four fixtures.
Maresca recently spoke about the race to finish in the top five, reiterating that Chelsea have improved no matter the outcome this season. He told reporters: “How many times in the last two years has Chelsea been in the Champions League [places]? Zero.
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It could be another busy summer for the Blues.
“How many times this season? Almost all season. It is an improvement or not? It is already an improvement because we spend all season there. Now, we are going to try our best to finish there no doubt.”
That said, Champions League football looks unlikely to convince one particular player into staying put who is now desperate to leave Stamford Bridge this summer.
Nkunku has "decided to leave Chelsea"
According to Sky Sports' Florian Plettenberg, Christopher Nkunku has now "decided to leave Chelsea" with "talks ongoing" over his departure. The Frenchman has struggled for starts in the Premier League this season, making just nine in total, and now looks destined to leave the London club.
Despite struggling to start in the league, the £195,000-a-week forward has still earned plenty of praise from Maresca who took the time to admire his hard work earlier this season.
The Chelsea boss, who admitted he "loves" Nkunku, told reporters: “Probably in this moment is lack of confidence and the reason why is because he’s missing goal or penalty like tonight but the only way to deal with that is to work hard every day because when you work hard for sure the reward is important, the problem is when you stop to work and the good thing about Christoph is that he’s working well every day.”