Arsenal will try to take advantage of Chelsea’s growing need to trim their squad to comply with Financial Fair Play rules by pursuing Callum Hudson-Odoi in the summer.
Chelsea signed Enzo Fernandez, Mykhaylo Mudryk, Joao Felix, Benoit Badashile, Malo Gusto, Andrey Santos, Noni Madueke and David Datro Fofana in the January transfer window. They spent north of £300million on transfers in January to take their total spend since Todd Boehly’s consortium completed their takeover in May to over £500m, with 16 permanent arrivals and two loanees signed.
The Blues need to offload players to balance the books, with UEFA tightening its rules on amortisation – the method Chelsea have used to spread out transfer fees over the length of player contracts – this summer. Rival clubs are now circling, plotting moves for players on the fringes of Graham Potter’s squad.
Arsenal have identified Hudson-Odoi as a transfer target, with The Guardian reporting that he will be available once his loan spell at Bayer Leverkusen finishes at the end of the season. The 22-year-old winger has made 17 appearances for Leverkusen this season, contributing one goal and one assist.
He has 16 goals and 22 assists in 126 appearances for Chelsea, who are unlikely to require his services, with Mudryk, Madueke and upcoming summer arrival Christopher Nkunku bolstering options in wide positions. With Raheem Sterling also on the books following a £47.5m move from Manchester City last summer, the likes of Hudson-Odoi, Christian Pulisic, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Hakim Ziyech are expected to move on.
Hudson-Odoi is under contract with Chelsea until June 2024 after rejecting a move to Bayern Munich to pen a five-year deal with his boyhood club in 2019. He will be able to negotiate with a new club from January 2024.
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He is reportedly not in a rush to decide upon his future and is currently focused on making an impact for Leverkusen. Xabi Alonso’s side are ninth in the Bundesliga table following their 2-0 defeat by Borussia Dortmund on Sunday.
Arsenal signed Leandro Trossard from Brighton for £27m in the January transfer window to add to their options in wide positions. Trossard joined the likes of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Reiss Nelson, while the Gunners have loaned out youngster Marquinhos to Norwich.
The Gunners had originally been keen to sign Mudryk from Shakhtar Donetsk, but were pipped to the transfer by Chelsea, who splashed £87m on the Ukraine international.
Arsenal signed Trossard, Jorginho and Jakub Kiwior in January and are now looking ahead to the summer when they will target a central midfielder. West Ham star Declan Rice and Brighton’s Moises Caicedo are two of their top targets for the summer transfer window.
