Blues open to selling £182.5m attacking quartet in remarkable exodus

Up to four attackers could depart Chelsea this summer amid updates on the futures of Christopher Nkunku and Raheem Sterling.

Chelsea have acted decisively to improve their forward line during the current transfer window, signing Liam Delap from Ipswich Town for £30million (€35m / $41m) and also agreeing deals for Jamie Gittens and Joao Pedro. Left winger Gittens will swap Borussia Dortmund for Chelsea after a £55m (€64m / $75m) agreement was reached for his move.

Versatile forward Pedro, meanwhile, will cost Chelsea an initial £50m plus £10m in add-ons (a total package worth €70m / $82m) after agreeing to join from Brighton & Hove Albion.

Blues boss Enzo Maresca will also be able to utilise Estevao Willian on the right flank in the new season. He will come up against Chelsea in the Club World Cup quarter-finals on Saturday before moving to Stamford Bridge from Palmeiras.

Chelsea have already sent Jadon Sancho back to Manchester United but also want to finalise several attacking sales to streamline Maresca’s squad and recoup funds.

As per Football Insider, Nkunku is ‘expected to be among the first exits’ at Chelsea in the coming weeks as he is ‘pushing’ to leave.

The Frenchman has effectively been replaced by Pedro as they operate in very similar positions. Nkunku is very highly rated by recruitment chiefs across Europe, but he has rarely been able to play in his favoured No 10 role for Chelsea due to Cole Palmer.

TEAMtalk revealed on June 11 that it is inevitable Nkunku will join a new club as he wants to start in the biggest games regularly.

Manchester United and Bayern Munich looked at the 27-year-old in January and remain interested.

It was claimed on Monday that Nkunku has been ‘offered’ to United, and a trusted source has confirmed the Red Devils are in ‘discussions’ over his potential signing. Chelsea are open to taking a £17m hit on Nkunku, having originally signed him for £52m but now set his price tag at £35m (€41m / $48m).

A separate report from Football Insider has named Sterling and Noni Madueke as two players who could follow Nkunku out of west London.

Chelsea are ‘ready to accept bids’ for Sterling and Madueke due to the arrivals of Gittens and Estevao in their respective positions.

The London club are eyeing Alejandro Garnacho and Malick Fofana as they plot another left winger signing even after Gittens, and this would push Sterling further down the pecking order.

Sterling spent last season on loan at Arsenal but only managed one goal in 28 appearances.

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Chelsea to push Raheem Sterling out

Chelsea paid Manchester City £47.5m for the Englishman in July 2022 but will likely have to accept a big loss when selling him. The Saudis could offer Sterling the chance to earn a huge salary, but it remains to be seen if he would be open to leaving Europe.

Madueke, meanwhile, could make Chelsea a profit. They spent £30m on him originally and would want £50m (€58m / $68.5m) to sell this summer.

Sources confirmed to TEAMtalk on April 28 that Chelsea are happy to offload Madueke, with Arsenal having sent him a contract offer in the last few days.

Then there is striker Nicolas Jackson. Chelsea have always been adamant that they would keep Jackson, viewing him as a great player for the future, but that stance has softened in recent weeks.

Jackson left both Maresca and the Chelsea board frustrated when he picked up another red card, this time at the Club World Cup against Flamengo.

Gianluca Di Marzio was the first to reveal that Jackson is no longer ‘untouchable’ in the Chelsea squad and this was confirmed by The Athletic on Tuesday.

The Senegal international has picked up interest from Juventus and Napoli, with Chelsea setting their asking price at £50m.

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