There has been an intensity about Chelsea's business in the transfer window and it is one they will have to keep up if they do not want to maintain losing players for nothing at the end of the contracts. The past two summers have already seen Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen and Jorginho leave Chelsea for no compensation and there is perhaps a greater threat of it happening again at the end of 2023/24.
Speaking in April 2022, Thomas Tuchel acknowledged it would be a problem he hoped the club could avoid moving forwards.
"Nobody wants that with big players and important players nowadays," the former Blues boss said, "It's a wish as a coach that we solve this in the summer in any way, that we solve it and it's clear where the journey is and what the decision is. Yes, this is the wish.
"[If not] we have the same talks that we have had about Toni and Andreas. You just swap the names. We would talk about it through winter and then comes January, and then agents are talking to this club and the brother another. It would be nice if we can avoid it but at the moment it's difficult [because of the sanctions]. But this should be the target for all of us."
With a week until Mauricio Pochettino's arrival, some uncertainty at least is to be expected. Mateo Kovacic, Mason Mount, Thiago Silva, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Cesar Azpilicueta, Christian Pulisic, Ethan Ampadu and Ian Maatsen all have deals set to expire in 12 months before even taking development players into considerations. Few of those are expected to remain with the club for the return of the Premier League but with pre-season looming, it's looking a tight turnaround to ensure there are no distractions.
Already it seems that Kalidou Koulibaly, Hakim Ziyech and Edouard Mendy are set for departures for Saudi Arabia, while Kovacic seems the nearest of those in the final year of his deal. A £25 million agreement appears to be in place with Manchester City with the possibility of £5m more in add-ons and his medical is said to have been on Friday.
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There has been greater difficulty facilitating a move for Mount to Manchester United, but perhaps an acceptance that the Blues need to deal with Premier League rivals to facilitate moves for some players in their final year. Though perhaps given the intention of Mount to depart regardless of this summer, the 24-year-old may cause the biggest distraction with his future already brought up plenty in press conferences during 2022/23. Likewise, progress over an exit for Pulisic is also proving difficult with an obvious suitor to buy the player not yet forthcoming.
A brutal decision may be required in the case of Aubameyang, where as the Blues could yet facilitate a move for Azpilicueta having extended his deal last summer to ensure the captain could help with the club's transition. Last term's loanees Hudson-Odoi and Ampadu will be expected to depart but may present Pochettino with a question of whether to assess their abilities on the pre-season tour before making a decision.
Given how having a few players out of contract have ensured constant questions for recent Chelsea managers, Chelsea must cut the number down from ten. Particularly with a raft of players with two years remaining on their deals, there almost feels a blockage to tackling the futures of those players which could pose a problem next summer. That said, Chelsea's approach to Kai Havertz's potential move to Arsenal has already shown their approach of not wanting players to reach that stage in the future, with new contracts or departures generally set to await those entering the final two years of their contracts.
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