BIG-MONEY CHELSEA STAR HELL-BENT ON LEAVING AS HE TAKES MATTERS INTO HIS OWN HANDS WITH HUGE CONTRACT DECISION; £38M BLUES LOSS CONFIRMED
A trusted source has confirmed that Chelsea will have to take a big financial hit when selling an attacker who flopped, while the player himself is determined to find a new club.
Mauricio Pochettino is facing an important summer transfer window as he looks to make the Chelsea squad his own. The Blues have spent over £600million in the last two windows, resulting in a bloated squad full of top stars who feel they should be playing more often.
Pochettino will work closely with sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley to trim the squad down. This will help Pochettino in two ways. Firstly, it will provide money for him to bring in a couple of his own transfer targets, without the club breaking Financial Fair Play rules. Secondly, it will help the Argentine coach to create a core group of players he can rely on, who will not kick up a fuss when they are on the bench.
Several players look set to depart the West London club, including Edouard Mendy, Mason Mount, Hakim Ziyech and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, just to name a few.
They could be followed out of Chelsea by American winger Christian Pulisic. The 24-year-old cost Chelsea £57.6million when joining from Borussia Dortmund in 2019, as per Sky Sports.
Pulisic arrived at Chelsea with big expectations after an impressive rise in Germany. However, he has rarely been able to replicate his Dortmund form while wearing a Chelsea shirt.
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This season, the forward managed just one goal and two assists in 30 appearances. He did not play as much as he would have liked due to both injuries and strong competition for places.
On May 31, ESPN claimed Chelsea would sell Pulisic for just £20m this summer. And that loss, at almost £38m, has now been confirmed by The Athletic.
Chelsea and player determined to part ways
They state that ‘Pulisic’s desire to find a new club… is only matched by current employers Chelsea’s eagerness to sell him’. The 57-cap USA international is willing to take a ‘considerable pay cut’ to find a new club so he can become an important player there.
As per Goal, he currently earns around £145,000 a week at Stamford Bridge. These wages, as well as Chelsea’s previously high asking price, have represented a problem when he has tried to leave Chelsea in the past. But now both parties have dropped their demands, a transfer should be able to go ahead.
The Athletic reveal that Pulisic will either stay in the Premier League or head to Serie A when departing Chelsea. There is no mention of which Prem clubs are interested, although Manchester United, Arsenal and Newcastle United have previously been linked. In Italy, Juventus are thought to be the frontrunners for his capture.
It will be interesting to see how Pulisic performs, should he find a new side in the near future. Frustratingly for Chelsea fans, it would not be a surprise if he flourished elsewhere.
If Pulisic went to Juve, for example, he would immediately become one of the big-name attackers on their books and would in turn receive more game time. This would allow him to get his confidence back up and potentially shine in Serie A.
Another factor to consider is the cut-price £20m fee, which should not put Pulisic under too much pressure. He will be able to play with freedom without being at risk of immediately being labelled an expensive flop.
Of course, one issue that has plagued Pulisic at Chelsea has been injuries. This is one of the factors that the likes of Newcastle and Juve must take into account when deciding whether to sign Pulisic.
2023-06-06T10:02:03Z dg43tfdfdgfd