Indications have shown that Chelsea is planning to offload midfielder, N’Golo Kante, and eight other players this summer.
Reports have it that the coach, Frank Lampard, who has already strengthened his squad with the signings of Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner ahead of the new season is also keen to land Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Kai Havertz, with a new goalkeeper and a left-back on his sight as well. Chelsea had been linked with Leicester City’s Ben Chilwell for a while before the Englishman got injured before the Premier League restart.
Chelsea has not been impressed with their first choice goalie, Kepa Arrizabalaga as well. The £77 m pound goalie made some schoolboy errors in some games for the club and Lampard is not happy with him.
For Lampard to get in the players he wanted, the Blues will have to sell some players to reduce its wage bills.
The Times reported that the club is open to offers for nine players, with Kante, whose 2019-20 season was blighted by injuries topping the list. The Frenchman, who is a key member of the squad was only able to start just 23 games.
Who are those on the transfer list of Chelsea?
Also available on the list is Kante’s fellow midfielder Ross Barkley as they also plan to permanently offload Tiemoue Bakayoko, who spent the season on loan at Monaco.
In the defense, Chelsea are looking to listen to offers for Kurt Zouma, Andreas Christensen, Emerson Palmieri, and Marcos Alonso.
In the front role, the Blues are also looking to find buyers for Michy Batshuayi, who has one year left on his contract. The Belgian made just 13 appearances this season, while Kepa, who was dropped for the FA Cup final defeat to Arsenal on Saturday occupies the final part of the list.
Lampard concern of Chelsea’s backline
Despite finishing the season 4th, Chelsea is one of the highest goal conceding side this season with 54 goals. This is a huge concern to Lampard.
“The numbers do not lie. We are trying to play a certain way. I know that teams who are now at the top of the game, Liverpool and Manchester City, have been through similar periods – I am not saying we will get to their level – in the early stages when their manager was at the club of conceding too much.
“It is a work in progress for me. I can’t shelve it in another direction, we have to work defensively as a group.
“But some of the individual errors we are making, clear individual errors, some in the final, which clearly cost us goals cannot be there if you want to keep moving forward.
“There are areas to improve defensively and of course we have to improve. We have to work as a group to make that better. That is clear. We are not hiding from that.”
