the four chelsea players who could be sold as part of thomas tuchel's big summer clear-out after chelsea owner open €200m summer signing for Thomas Tuchel

 

Four players Chelsea will try to sell in Boehly and Tuchel's £200m transfer overhaul

the four chelsea players who could be sold as part of thomas tuchel's big summer clear-out after chelsea owner open €200m summer signing for Thomas Tuchel

Chelsea's takeover has been formally approved and the club will soon be able to do business again in the transfer market with decisions set to be made on the futures of certain players under contract

Thomas Tuchel has already shared a warm embrace with Todd Boehly. Now he needs to make sure he doesn't end up getting the cold shoulder.

Chelsea's new owner gave Blues boss Tuchel a big old hug on the Stamford Bridge pitch after watching them beat Watford on the last day of the season. But now that the UK Government has finally approved his US consortium's £4.25bn takeover, the hard work can begin - and the hard conversations start.

Tuchel has ambitious plans to take Chelsea back to the top of the Premier League, where Roman Abramovich always felt they belonged. Now that Abramovich is gone, ending a 19-year spell in charge in which the club have won every trophy going, there is a new man to convince.

How the relationship between him and Tuchel develops will be key to whether Chelsea - a club with a nasty habit of hiring and firing managers - succeed or fail. For now, LA Dodgers part-owner Boehly is confident he can hit a home run this summer and bring at least one statement signing to the club. But Tuchel wants much, much more than that. For weeks he has complained that Chelsea risk falling further behind their rivals, who grow stronger as the Blues get weaker.

Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen will leave on free transfers this summer. Marcos Alonso and even club captain Cesar Azpilicueta could join them through the exit. That in itself will leave a huge void that must be filled quickly - with Sevilla expecting a bid for France defender Jules Kounde within days. He is likely to cost more than £50m, and while Tuchel could have up to £200m to spend this summer, he must sell players to reach that figure.

It is a tricky balancing act because the German wants to improve his squad without losing too many players. But if he wants to make a truly big splash this summer then Chelsea will have to listen to offers for the likes of Ross Barkley, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech. Question marks remain too over Timo Werner and Romelu Lukaku - expensive signings who have not worked out and will not fetch the same huge fees if sold.