Photo by Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Offside via Getty Images
Photo by Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Offside via Getty Images
Every buying club knows Chelsea are selling as the deadline draws closer. Pep Chavarria’s arrival will take spending north of £350m, while the Blues have raked in less than half of that.
Chavarria will be the eleventh major signing made by Chelsea this summer. Five were agreed before the arrival of Xabi Alonso, and six more after his appointment. Those additions have cost more than £350m.
But the sales of Marc Cucurella, Andrey Santos, Tyrique George and Jimmy-Jay Morgan only account for around £120m. Trevoh Chalobah is set to join Como for £31m, which sees Chelsea rake in around £150m.
Without European football and the money that comes with it, Chelsea need to sell players to balance the books. With a few weeks left in the transfer window, it might mean selling players they don’t want to sell.
Arsenal and Liverpool eye opportunity as Chelsea look to sell
According to Ben Jacobs, Arsenal and Liverpool are among the clubs looking to take advantage of a Chelsea firesale. As things stand, aside from new signings, Chelsea have seven ‘untouchable’ players.
Crystal Palace FC v Chelsea FC - Premier League
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Reece James, Estevao and Joao Pedro are examples. Moises Caicedo and Cole Palmer, too. Defenders Levi Colwill and Josh Acheampong are also listed as ‘untouchable’, and yet Arsenal and Liverpool are lurking.
Transfer expert Ben Jacobs, who was speaking on the Born ‘n Red podcast, said that Arsenal are among the clubs eyeing Acheampong, while Liverpool are said to be considering both Acheampong and Colwill.
“Josh Acheampong is a player that they (Liverpool) like, much like Arsenal and Man United and Bayern. He’s untouchable in this window. There’s long-standing interest in Levi Colwill,” Jacobs reported.
Chelsea will fend off any Colwill interest, but Acheampong?
There is a reason why Chelsea have named both Colwill and Acheampong as ‘untouchable’. Colwill is Chelsea’s best defender, even if the Blues have just paid north of £50m to sign Maxence Lacroix.
Those two are the future of Chelsea’s defence, if they can combine in the way Xabi Alonso hopes. The centre-backs Chelsea intend to keep remain to be seen, but the hope is Acheampong stays put.
Chelsea see him as the long-term future of this defence. But can they keep Acheampong happy when he is not going to be first choice and the opportunity of game time has slimmed, without European action?
There are murmurs that Acheampong wants assurances he will get game time. But realistically, he might not even be first-choice as back-up to Colwill and Lacroix. Acheampong might be a candidate to leave.