£88.5m Chelsea ace set to spark yet another fire sale in January



The analogy of the kid in the sweet shop being able to buy up anything he wants is a perfect embodiment of the way in which Chelsea continue to conduct their transfer business.

Ever since the club were taken over by Clearlake Capital, there have been continuous and significant changes amongst the first-team playing staff.

Whether that’s because those players aren’t good enough or there are financial incentives to move them on is a moot point.

Chelsea to let £88.5m flop leave in January

The ins and outs have become incessant, and it looks like they’re set to continue in the upcoming January transfer window.

According to TeamTalk, £88.5m signing Mykhailo Mudryk is set to spark another fire sale once the window opens for business again in the new year.

With at least 29 players in their first-team squad per transfermarkt, the Blues remain one of the more top-heavy squads in the Premier League.

Mykhailo Mudryk has failed to perform at Chelsea. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Perhaps this January could be the last time we see multiple exits and the squad can be trimmed down to a more acceptable 24 or 25 players.

That would at least give Enzo Maresca a better number to work with and stop players such as Mudryk from wasting away on the sidelines.

TeamTalk note, in fact, that the Ukrainian can’t wait to get away from the club after being marginalised by the new manager, and the last thing that Maresca needs at this early stage of the season are players proving disruptive in the dressing room.


 

In practice, all that a fire sale really achieves is economic equilibrium.

Maresca, as with Graham Potter and Mauricio Pochettino before him, can’t possibly rely on any sort of squad continuity, and that lack of stability is likely to show itself in results terms over the course of the season.

Top photo by Eddie Keogh/Getty Images