Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia faces a busy conclusion to the January transfer window, but it could be to do with players leaving rather than coming in at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues have three key defenders in their squad, whose values add up to £72.9million in total on Transfermarkt, that are all due to be out of contract at the end of the season.
Antonio Rudiger, perhaps the most high-profile out of the defensive trio, is looking more and more likely to leave the club with each passing day.
Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are said to be interested in the Germany international, whose contract demands are thought to be much higher than Chelsea are willing to pay.
Meanwhile, football.london understands that Andreas Christensen has had an offer from Chelsea on the table for some time, but he is yet to accept the renewal.
On the Cesar Azpilicueta front, it has all gone a bit quiet. Barcelona and Atletico Madrid reportedly hold an interest in the experienced and versatile Spanish defender, but could look to make a move in the summer where he is set to become a free agent should he not put pen to paper on a new Chelsea deal.
There is now less than two weeks left of the January transfer window which means, unless Chelsea can convince their defensive trio to sign new deals between now and the end of the season, they will leave the club for free in the summer.
What next for Chelsea?
Chelsea of course hold an interest in Jules Kounde, with the Blues desperate to sign him last summer. However, Sevilla kept hold of their star defender, but the end of the season is set to present an opportunity for Chelsea to rekindle their interest in the France international.
Thomas Tuchel was asked back in November of last year about Chelsea's pursuit of Kounde and admitted the west Londoners may need to re-evaluate the situation again.
When asked if Trevoh Chalobah's development this season makes it unlikely that Kounde would be a target this month, Tuchel replied: "I think every transfer period you need to evaluate again.
"You cannot say what we wanted in the summer, we do in the winter. And what we want to do in the winter, we want to do the next summer. It is not like this.
"Your opinion changes, players change, you have [evolution] in the group, you have an atmosphere that you build, you see who is absolutely reliable and these connections build up and create something special hopefully in the group.
"So you cannot say what we tried in the summer did not happen so we will try again for sure in the winter. Sometimes it is like this. If we see the same need, but clearly, Trevoh is now here with us and he deserves to be here with us.
"It had nothing to do with if we can sign another central defender or not. But he stepped up. The responsibility was even more on his shoulders and he can handle it so far in a very impressive way.
"This is the situation and it has an effect on our next decisions in the next transfer period. It is always like this."
It will hardly come as a shock if Chelsea do go after Kounde again in the summer, especially considering there could be three key defenders on their way out of Stamford Bridge.
