£100m fire sale could get nasty as desperate Chelsea set for battle with home grown players | OneFootball

Chelsea’s initial aims for this summer are clear – sell some grown players before the June 30th Profit and Sustainability Rules deadline in order to clear their debts, then try to use the rest of the summer to strengthen again without digging themselves into a financial hole.

The reason that’s so clear is because there aren’t many other options available to them. The rules are clear, and so is the depth of their spending. The players they intend to clear are pretty obvious too, simply by process of elimination. They’re hardly going to sell the players they’ve just bought to get them into this mess, so that leaves the remaining group who were on the books when Clearlake took over two years ago.

The most profitable sales from that group will be the home grown players, as they are, as the chilling phrase puts it, “pure profit.” According to the rumours that have swirled all year, that includes Conor Gallagher, Trevoh Chalobah, Ian Maatsen and Armando Broja. The Blues are looking to recoup £100m just as a starting point, according to Nizaar Kinsella’s article today.

Major obstacles still ahead

But if those in charge think that that cluster of home grown players are going to merrily march off to the highest bidder, they’ve got another thing coming. As Kinsella points out in his piece , all of them have “insisted they will wait for the right opportunity.”

They don’t owe the club anything, especially given they’re being so unceremoniously forced out. There may well be offers on the table to please all parties, but Chelsea should also be aware that things could start to get nasty.