Chelsea have a number of players they wish to get off the books before deadline day on September 1, with Blues boss Enzo Maresca set for a few key decisions surrounding high-profile first-team stars.
£50m "game-changer" would now love to join Chelsea despite Arsenal approach
The Blues have been handed a boost in their pursuit of an attacker.
ByDominic LundJul 21, 2025
Raheem Sterling, Ben Chilwell, Renato Veiga, Axel Disasi, Carney Chukwuemeka, Lesley Ugochukwu, Armando Broja, Tosin Adarabioyo, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Nicolas Jackson, João Félix and Alfie Gilchrist have all been linked with the Chelsea exit door in recent weeks.
Cole Palmer
7.33
Moises Caicedo
7.02
Enzo Fernández
6.95
Nicolas Jackson
6.88
Noni Madueke
6.82
via WhoScored
Benoit Badiashile has also hinted that he could leave Chelsea this summer, with The Athletic’s Simon Johnson reporting they’ll consider offers for Trevoh Chalobah too, despite his heroics during the second half of 2024/2025, so Maresca could oversee a major reshuffle of his defence.
Chelsea have already sold Kepa Arrizabalaga, Basir Humphreys, Noni Madueke, Marcus Bettinelli, Djordje Petrovic and Mathis Amougou for an estimated total fee of around £100 million, but they remain under pressure from UEFA to balance out their squad.
Failure to do so could even result in Maresca not being able to register new players for their Champions League campaign next season (Kaveh Solhekol), even if Chelsea are currently making a profit after also winning the Club World Cup and taking home £87.5 million.
Financially, Chelsea are in a very good position to carry on signing players, and that is certainly their intent towards the latter stages of this transfer window (Simon Phillips), but they’ll need to seal more departures.
Unofficial swap deals could be a key method that Chelsea utilise to both bring in upgrades and trim their bloated squad (Simon Phillips), with £195,000-per-week forward Christopher Nkunku a potential sacrifice in this regard.
Reports earlier in the window suggested that Chelsea and Man United have explored an exchange involving Nkunku and Alejandro Garnacho, and journalist Simon Phillips has now shared an update on the Frenchman’s future.
Chelsea looking to replace Christopher Nkunku as Newcastle eye "surprise" move
Writing via his Substack, the reporter claims that Chelsea are actively looking to replace Nkunku, and Newcastle have emerged as “surprise” suitors for him.
Eddie Howe’s side have expressed an interest, and even though it hasn’t advanced further than that right now, the Magpies are believed to be considering a swoop for the former RB Leipzig sensation.
This follows other audacious claims from Spain that Chelsea offered Nkunku to Real Madrid as part of a two-player swap deal for Rodrygo, but it is unclear whether the west Londoners would propose the versatile attacker for any Newcastle player.
Nkunku, despite not being a firm fixture in Maresca’s starting elevens, still managed double digits in terms of goals scored in all competitions last season, and most recently put in some impressive displays at the CWC.
“Yeah, he’s a top player, we all know his quality, how he is as a player,” teammate Felix told the media about Nkunku last campaign.
“We already saw him doing amazing things at Leipzig. And yeah, I like to play with him. I think we think the game kind of like the same way. So I think he already know what I’m going to do, and I know what he’s going to do. I think it’s pretty easy to play with him. I think we connect very well.”