CHELSEA are set to sell EIGHT players this summer in a massive clearout.
The Blues need to balance the books after reporting losses of £121.3m for 2021-22 and £274m across the last two campaigns.
Incredibly, those figures do not take into account the West Londoners splashing out more than £600million on players this season.
Struggling Chelsea also look set to miss out on European football next term with the club way down in 11th in the Premier League and needing to overturn a 2-0 deficit against Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-final.
That has prompted a Stamford Bridge panic with pressure mounting on new owner Todd Boehly to cut the losses or risk Financial Fair Play sanctions.
Now the Mirror state eight players are on the chopping block ahead of the transfer window reopening at the end of the season.
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That includes midfield stars Mason Mount, Mateo Kovacic and out-of-contract N’Golo Kante who would leave for free.
Academy graduates Conor Gallagher and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are also named as part of the culling.
Forwards Christian Pulisic, Hakim Ziyech and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang could all be axed, too.
Kante’s deal expires in the summer and he was thought to be close to penning a three-year extension.
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However, this latest news could see the 32-year-old – Chelsea’s third-highest earner on £290,000 per week – walk away as a free agent as Arsenal consider a swoop.
Mount, Kovacic, Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek and Aubameyang will all go into the final 12 months of their contracts this summer.
Gallagher and Ziyech, meanwhile, are tied down until 2025.
Manchester United and Liverpool are tracking Mount’s situation while Manchester City and Bayern Munich could battle it out for Kovacic.
Chelsea blocked Gallagher joining Everton for £45m in the summer and Merseyside rivals Liverpool could launch a shock bid this year.
Loftus-Cheek reportedly held talks with AC Milan over a £25m move while Pulisic’s Stamford Bridge spell appears to be nearing its end.
Ziyech was set to go to PSG on loan in January but a deal collapsed – however, he is expected to be let go especially given how many new attackers have joined this season.
Aubameyang’s time at Chelsea has been rather disastrous and the outcasted striker, snubbed by ex-boss Graham Potter, could join Inter Milan or even return to Barcelona.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
