Chelsea balance the books as outgoing deals almost recoup £97m outlay on Romelu Lukaku

BY PAUL LAGAN
paul@slpmedia.co.uk

Chelsea are close to clearing out most of their dead wood players and recouping almost all of the £97million they paid for Romelu Lukaku.

While the transfer window remains open until Tuesday at 11pm, the Blues could still bring in a couple of quality signings.

Midfielder Saul Niguez could be heading to west London from Atletico Madrid as could France defender Jules Kounde from Sevilla.

But to nab either, Chelsea will have to secure big money by getting rid of Kurt Zouma, who is wanted by West Ham United.

Zouma is valued in the £40m bracket by Chelsea and has all but agreed terms with the east Londoners.

It’s now up to the France centre-back to decide if he sees his future as rosier by joining the Hammers.

Tiemoue Bakayoko is set to return to Italy to sign a one-year loan deal with AC Milan with an option to buy the 27-year-old.

Hot on his heels is right-back Davide Zappacosta, who moved back to Italy to sign for Atalanta – ending a miserable four years at Stamford Bridge. Zappacosta, 29, spent last season in his homeland on loan with Genoa. Atalanta was where he made his Serie A breakthrough before moving to Torino.

Antonio Conte signed the right-back for Chelsea in 2017, with Zappacosta netting a cracking long-range goal against Qarabag on his full debut. That’s about as good as it got for the defender, who has 13 Italy caps.

One player who did not make the grade or an official first-team outing but recouped most of the development costs for the academy is Ike Ugbo, who has exited SW6 with a permanent transfer to Belgian side KRC Genk. The transfer fee is about £6m.

The striker had been with the Blues since he was 10.

Ugbo worked his way through the age groups before heading out on senior loans with Barnsley, MK Dons, Scunthorpe United and Roda JC before last season’s move to Cercle Brugge. He scoring the winning goal in a 2-1 friendly victory at Bournemouth last month.

Emerson Palmieri, who could not force his way past Marcos Alonso or Ben Chilwell, has accepted defeat and moved on loan.

The Brazilian-born Italian defender will spend the remainder of the season in Ligue 1 with Lyon.

The 27-year-old defender, who can play at left-back or wing-back, will get his first taste of French football following three-and-a-half years at Stamford Bridge.

These players follow the exit of Tammy Abraham to Roma for £36m; Fiyako Tomori to AC Milan for £26m; Victor Moses to Spartak Moscow for £5m, and Oliver Giroud to AC Milan for £1m.

Chelsea saved millions on wages by also loaning out Matt Miazga to Alaves in Spain, Billy Gilmour to Norwich City and Michy Batshuayi to Besiktas in Turkey.

Chelsea Women play a friendly tonight against Aston Villa ahead of their WSL opener away to Arsenal on September 5.

With players returning in dribs and drabs following their international commitments in the summer, head coach Emma Hayes will still be without the likes of star striker Sam Kerr, who was recently on holiday in the USA.

With quarantine restrictions in place and a lack of serious pre-season training behind her, the Australian, who is in the final year of her contract with Chelsea is not expected to play any part in the match against the Midlanders.

Hayes has been clearing the decks too and a number of younger players have left to rack up some first-team experience.
Goalkeeper Emily Orman, 18, has gone out on loan to Crystal Palace.

Aggie-Beever Jones goes out on loan to Bristol City while Charlotte Wardlaw heads up north to Liverpool for a season.