Chelsea could get more than £35m for expendable asset who will be sold without manager’s green light | OneFootball

It’s a slow week for Chelsea transfer news overall – not much can progress until we’ve got a new coach in place.

But there is some movement in terms of sales. Some of those look set to go ahead regardless of who is coach, so it’s no surprise there’s some progression.

Give Me Sport are claiming that Chelsea are demanding £35m for Ian Maatsen, currently on loan with Borussia Dortmund. The German club have been trying to push that sum down, but Chelsea won’t budge.

The Blues think Dortmund will pay that much – and if they won’t, someone else will. The 22 year old signed a new contract just before moving on this loan, and so there’s no great pressure on Chelsea to sell. Either someone gives us the money we want this summer, or we send him on another loan and possibly watch his value grow even more next season.

For once, it feels like we’ve played our hand well here. Ian’s done so well since going on loan, and has built upon a brilliant season in the Championship with Burnley last time out.

Ian Maatsen in action for Borussia Dortmund.

A strong position to extract a major fee

Let’s not forget, that £35m price was set in the deal before Maatsen had played 6 brilliant months there, including an important role in getting them to the Champions League final which will be played next weekend.

So if they wanted £35m before (or were at least hopeful enough of getting it to make that the release clause), they’re certainly not going to take less than that now.

As we’ve said before, we’d rather see Maatsen stay and play a role in our first team. But if his sale is essential for balancing the books (and everything we’ve read seems to indicate that it is), we can swallow it – but only if it’s totally essential.