Revealed: The four clubs interested in signing Chelsea stars amid summer fire-sale

Cameron Smith

• 21 Apr 2023 06:12 CDT
• 3 min read

Chelsea are set for a huge summer sale in order to reduce their bloated squad and raise funds to comply with Financial Fair Play rules, which has alerted some of Europe's biggest clubs.

The Blues may have massively underperformed this season, they are currently 11th in the Premier League table, but their squad is still packed with world class players. As a result, several clubs are keeping a keen eye on their situation and are ready to pounce.

FootballTransfers exclusively reported that Todd Boehly is prepared to put the entire Blues squad up for sale, with the aim of offloading sellable assets to recoup some of the €600 million he's spent on player arrivals since replacing Roman Abramovich as Chelsea owner in 2022.

READ: Chelsea in talks with Pochettino as hunt for new boss continues

Mason Mount, Hakim Ziyech, Christian Pulisic, Conor Gallagher and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are five players who have been heavily linked with a summer departure, but several other stars could also be on the chopping block at Stamford Bridge.

33 different players have featured for Chelsea this season, which shows how big their current first-team squad is. Boehly's summer aim is to reduce this massively, while it's been reported that a new goalkeeper, defensive midfielder and striker are also wanted by the club.

Player sales are needed first, however, and there were four clubs in attendance for Chelsea's recent Champions League defeat to Real Madrid.

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Which clubs want to sign Chelsea stars?

According to Portuguese outlet Record, Sporting CP president Frederico Varandas was at the game, while the Evening Standard have reported that Real Madrid's Florentino Pérez, Barcelona sporting director Mateu Alemany, Brighton & Hove Albion owner Tony Bloom and Portuguese super agent Jorge Mendes were also at Stamford Bridge to witness Real Madrid's 2-0 victory.

Of course, Florentino Perez was in attendance because Real Madrid were playing, but they have previously been linked with Chelsea's Reece James, while the two clubs have exchanged players frequently in the past.

Barcelona reportedly want to re-sign Aubameyang, while Brighton currently have Levi Colwill on loan at their club and would like to sign him on a permanent deal.

Liverpool are another club who have taken interest in Chelsea's upcoming fire-sale, with both Mount and Gallagher reportedly on their summer transfer list. Mount, in particular, is seen as a major target and his ongoing contract dispute at Stamford Bridge means he is likely to leave the club in a few months time.