A number of players are expected to leave Chelsea at the end of the season with the club simply needing to sell players to balance the books after seeing seven players arrive on a permanent basis in January.
Over the past two windows, the club have brought in a total of 14 new players (permanent signings), but have only sanctioned permanent exits for 12 players and the majority of them were not actually part of the first-team squad. So as it stands, Chelsea have a massive squad and it means Graham Potter has to leave a few out for every matchday.
Chelsea have a number of players who will be entering the final 12 months of their contracts with the club when the summer comes around. The likes of Cesar Azpilicueta, Mateo Kovacic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Mason Mount, Christian Pulisic and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang all face uncertain futures at Stamford Bridge.
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There are a couple there – Mount and Kovacic – where Chelsea are still hoping to persuade them to sign extensions with the club, but as far as the rest go, the club could look to offload them in the summer. Todd Boehly is keen to avoid past mistakes at Chelsea with letting players' contracts run down and lose them for next to nothing or on a free transfer.
This also has an impact on those who see their contracts due to expire in the summer of 2025. One of those is Edouard Mendy. The Senegal goalkeeper has not played for Chelsea since before last year's World Cup and has been sidelined with a finger injury.
Kepa Arrizabalaga has been the man to take Mendy's place in the team and overall the Spaniard has done a stellar job in his absence. Kepa does not necessarily deserve to be dropped with Mendy, who is valued at €25million (£22million) on Transfermarkt, now close to returning to action after being pictured in first-team training at Cobham on Tuesday.
Mendy is too good to remain as a number two goalkeeper and would surely look to move on from Chelsea if he cannot win the place back from Kepa in the remaining games of the season. Likewise, Kepa has probably shown enough during the spell he has had in goal this term that he too is better than a second-choice option.
Kepa almost left Chelsea last summer with a move to Italy on the cards, but the deal collapsed late on, football.london understands. Now, almost 12 months on, things are looking very different at Stamford Bridge for the Spanish shot-stopper. But there are still conversations going on behind the scenes at the club over signing a new goalkeeper, so it might be neither of Kepa or Mendy that will be Potter's first-choice next season.
Marcus Bettinelli is expected to leave the club in the summer with his contract due to expire and no immediate plans to extend his deal. So that would leave Chelsea with two first-team goalkeepers in Mendy and Kepa, although Gabriel Slonina could be promoted should he be deemed ready.
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