New Chelsea owner Todd Boehly has warned fans that they will not be throwing huge sums around to sign players this summer as Financial Fair Play continues to threaten their business.
With Boehly now running the show at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea are permitted to start signing players once again.
A fee has been agreed for young Southampton goalkeeper Eddie Beach and the Blues are also hopeful of adding Chicago Fire sensation Gabriel Slonina, with talks also ongoing about first-team signings.
Among Boehly’s plans are the free transfer of Ousmane Dembele and the signing of Sevilla centre-back Jules Kounde, with Chelsea still confident of securing the latter for around the £50m mark.
There are still other areas in which Chelsea fans are hoping to see improvement, but Boehly has warned that there is only so much the club can do this summer.
“Financial Fair Play is starting to get some teeth and that will limit ability to acquire players at any price,” Boehly told Bloomberg. “UEFA takes it seriously and will continue to take it seriously. [More teeth] means financial penalties and disqualification from competitions.
“If you look at the models that are very successful, Liverpool is a great model. Liverpool generates a couple of hundred million more revenue than Chelsea and they generate earnings, so there is an opportunity to compete.”
Listen now to 90min’s brand new podcast, Talking Transfers, with Scott Saunders, Graeme Bailey & Toby Cudworth. On their most packed show to date, the guys discuss Sadio Mane’s valuation as Liverpool win the race for Darwin Nunez, how Marc Roca joining Leeds could allow Kalvin Phillips to depart for long-time admirers Manchester City, the latest on Manchester United’s pursuits of Frenkie de Jong & Antony and much more.
A budget of around £200m is expected to be handed to Tuchel, with further funds potentially being raised by player sales.
Talks remain on with Inter over the possible loan exit of striker Romelu Lukaku, who wants to move back to Milan and has been given permission to leave after an underwhelming 12 months at Stamford Bridge.
Hakim Ziyech, Timo Werner and Christian Pulisic could all be sold as well to fund an overhaul of Chelsea’s attack – AC Milan’s Rafael Leao and Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski are both on the radar.
There could also be exits for Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso, both of whom want to join Barcelona.
