Ten transfer-listed players worth £337.6m who have already been replaced by £267.7m new signings
Chelsea have already directly replaced three transfer-listed players they are yet to sell this summer, with 10 stars available for £337.6m on their ways out.
10) Lucas Digne (unknown)
It seems curious for Atletico Madrid to lead their transfer philosophy on old Marco Silva quotes dredging up the Merseyside rivalry between Digne and Andy Robertson, but Diego Simeone has his methods.
If Robertson cannot be procured on a cheap basis from Liverpool then Digne is a suitable alternative: 31, with a contract expiring soon, abundant experience and a skillset which could thrive in La Liga.
Unai Emery might ordinarily be loathe to lose a player who started 37 Premier and Champions League games last season, but with Ian Maatsen ready to step up and £5.9m teenage signing Yasin Ozcan capable of moving into that back-up void, it could be a perfect opportunity to trim a ludicrous wage bill.
9) Milos Kerkez (£45m)
Another domino fell in The Great Left-Back Transfer Exchange when Bournemouth completed the signing of Adrien Truffert from Rennes, who themselves have brought in Lilian Brassier to help cover a side vacated by their erstwhile captain.
Whether Robertson remains at Anfield or not, his Liverpool starting place will be lost either way when Kerkez is finally picked from the Cherries, who have moved decisively for their own replacement.
“It’s a dream for any player to play in the Premier League,” said Truffert upon his £11.4m switch to the south coast. “It’s a great opportunity for me to keep progressing and to be part of an ambitious project.”
It is also, crucially, a wide-open berth on his side of the defence. Kerkez has shown the power of the Bournemouth stepping stone and it was a contractual obligation to describe his current employers as ‘paving the way’ for the Hungarian to leave for Liverpool with a necessary Truffert shuffle.
8) Mateo Joseph (£13m)
“There was a change, the other striker started to play. I started playing quite a bit and then went from everything to nothing. It was a blow,” said young Joseph of a season in which he started the first eight Championship games, then three of the next 16 and none of the final 22.
Having played all but seven of the club’s league matches en route to promotion, yet ranking 16th for minutes played in the squad, the hint has been entirely taken and Real Betis are hoping they have found a cost-efficient Antony equivalent.
Eight goals in 11 Spain U21 caps suggest he could flourish in a more comfortable environment yet it seems unlikely Leeds and Daniel Farke would trust Joseph any more in the Premier League than they did on the journey there.
It might be that the free transfer capture of Lukas Nmecha from Wolfsburg was a signal of intent to cash in on Joseph if enough can be raised through his sale for necessary reinforcements.
READ MORE: Romano gives Leeds ‘here we go’ for second signing as Farke lines up £60.4m triple deal
7) Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (£30m)
There is an element of sympathy for Dewsbury-Hall, the usual comfort blanket signing made by a manager climbing up the football ladder, who was discarded almost as soon as Enzo Maresca unpacked.
But there is equally a sense that he really ought to have known things could turn out this way for a big fish in the little pond at Leicester when dropped into the shark-infested transfer ocean of Chelsea.
Including the Club World Cup, with Dewsbury-Hall an inevitable unused substitute in the opening game, the midfielder ranked 15th for minutes played this season at Chelsea.
Remove from the equation the Conference League – in which he finished the full 90 minutes in nine of 12 games and started 11 before coming on as a late substitute in the final – and he comes 22nd behind Benoit Badiashile.
That is his reality with Champions League qualification secured. Dario Essugo has arrived from Sporting and immediately established himself as the Moises Caicedo understudy guaranteed a great many minutes. Dewsbury-Hall knows the bomb squad treatment awaits unless he accepts his fate of a move to Burnley or West Ham or some such.
6) Mateo Kovacic (£25.5m)
Tijjani Reijnders has already dismissed the idea he is “here to replace” Kevin de Bruyne, and 19 goals with nine assists in 104 Milan appearances, while admirable, do not scream attacking midfield genius.
“A lot of times I watched Kevin but another player I can learn a lot of things from is Gundogan. It is nice to see him up close and see how he does it,” said Reijnders of a more apt comparison. But it feels as though Kovacic has the most to lose in this sudden midfield evolution at the Etihad.
The return of Rodri to the fold was bound to reduce the chances for his midfield companions but it is easy to envisage how responsibilities might otherwise be shared between Reijnders, Gundogan, Bernardo Silva, weird FA Cup final substitute Claudio Echeverri, forgotten January signing Nico Gonzalez and academy graduate Nico O’Reilly.
For Kovacic, any answer beyond an exit with his transitional purpose under Pep Guardiola served is less obvious.
5) Evan Ferguson (£60m)
A West Ham loan under Graham Potter did nothing to resuscitate the career of Ferguson, who nevertheless seems destined for another hopeful loan. Given the current choice of Everton or Celtic, he might be in no rush to make a decision.
Fabian Hurzeler seemed open to the idea of working with Ferguson in January but accepted his desire for more minutes and a change of surroundings. Yet his short stay at West Ham only deepened the sense of a player having lost his way.
And Brighton know they cannot stand still and wait for the 20-year-old to realise his potential, hence the double down on teenage orthodox Greek forwards in January signing Stefanos Tzimas and £29.8m Olympiacos prodigy Charalampos Kostoulas.
4) Noni Madueke (£51.1m)
With Chelsea having already made a faintly ludicrous five signings for almost £100m this summer, their planned 14-player exodus will proceed as planned to sate their weird transfer fetish.
As one of the longest-serving players in the squad, Madueke has had his turn and is among those for whom the club will listen to offers while not actively and desperately seeking a sale.
A prohibitive price narrows Madueke’s options considerably with Chelsea wanting around double what they paid in January 2023 for a forward with 20 goals and nine assists in 88 appearances since.
But nowhere are new toys shinier than at Stamford Bridge and there is a particular sparkle emanating from 18-year-old Brazilian winger Estevao Willian, who will link up with his new employers and take someone’s place upon the conclusion of the Club World Cup.
3) Jack Grealish (£40m)
“I’m not Kevin De Bruyne,” revealed Rayan Cherki. “He is the legend.”
But the Ballon d’Or-chasing Frenchman might well be the successor to Jack Grealish as the exciting, absurdly talented wide forward who is destined to be accused at some point of being ruined by Guardiola and turned into a backwards-passing robot.
“Today’s game is less beautiful, fewer mistakes, but also fewer risks taken,” Cherki added in what could quite easily have been interpreted as a dig at his new manager. “I want to bring that spark back and give kids the joy it once had.”
It was a battle Grealish fought and quite convincingly lost in the end, to the extent there are precious few takers at a considerable knock-down price this summer for a player Manchester City absolutely no longer want.
2) Christopher Nkunku (£35m)
It was something of a surprise to see Nkunku given some cameo minutes against LAFC, the forward having been imbued with the aura of a pre-match chat with a beshirted Olivier Giroud.
But that might well be where his Chelsea odyssey ends, considering Liam Delap proved his almost immediate suitability to the Enzo Maresca cause in a way many have struggled before him.
Delap stands to take the permanent place of Nicolas Jackson, as he did from the bench in that impressive Club World Cup cameo. But the Senegal forward has shown enough to remain a fine squad option, dropping down the pecking order to knock Nkunku out of it entirely.
“I think it is always healthy to have competition, it is football,” Delap said after the game. “The good thing about Liam is that he knows the way we want to play, so the process is quite quick,” Maresca added, with Nkunku having no part to play in a bright future.
1) Rasmus Hojlund (£38m)
The complexion will change again once Harry Kane definitely joins Manchester United, but there are no feasible scenarios which benefit Hojlund in this transfer window.
Ruben Amorim has neither the time nor the patience to invest on a project, even with his public admiration of a 22-year-old who has never lacked in attitude and application.
But Manchester United renewing an old transfer policy betrays their need to sign players who are as close to a guarantee of quality in the current day as possible. Matheus Cunha ticks all the boxes Hojlund cannot yet wish to.
