Seven out of Chelsea's 29-man squad on last year's pre-season tour of the United States later left the club on a permanent basis in the following weeks.
Marcos Alonso, Kenedy, Emerson Palmieri, Ross Barkley, Billy Gilmour, Michy Batshuayi and Timo Werner all went to America with the rest of the Chelsea squad but were later moved on by the club permanently in the summer transfer window. All of these players were involved in some part in the States as well.
Chelsea, though, will try to avoid a similar situation this time around when they jet off, once again, to America in mid-July. However, there is a lot for the club to done transfer-wise before next month.
The summer transfer window does not officially open until next week but there have been talks behind the scenes between several Chelsea players and interested clubs over possible moves. For example, Ruben Loftus-Cheek has held several rounds of talks with AC Milan over a move to the San Siro and football.london understands negotiations have progressed well between the two parties. Chelsea are open to offloading Loftus-Cheek this summer for the right price.
Meanwhile, offers for Cesar Azpilicueta are set to be listened to. The 33-year-old Spaniard has just over a year remaining on his contract at Stamford Bridge and could well call time on his prestigious career in west London.
N'Golo Kante is now expected to leave Chelsea with his contract due to expire at the end of this month. Kante will depart as a free agent with Saudi Arabian club Al Ittihad set to sign the France international.
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Chelsea are prepared to listen to offers for Mateo Kovacic. The Croatia international is a big target for Manchester City, who are expected to lose Ilkay Gundogan on a free transfer this summer. Kovacic is also a target for former Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel who is now at Bayern Munich.
Kai Havertz could also leave. football.london understands Chelsea would sell the Germany international should an appropriate offer come their way. Real Madrid are the front-runners for his signature at the moment following the departure of Karim Benzema to the Middle East.
Both Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech are set to leave the club after unsuccessful careers at Stamford Bridge. Both will have no shortage of suitors and Chelsea are ready to part company.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will be allowed to leave the club in the coming weeks after an unsuccessful spell at the Bridge. Meanwhile, Joao Felix will not be signed on a permanent basis, football.london understands.
So there is plenty of scope for Chelsea to sell some of their unwanted players before next month's pre-season tour – and they could receive a hefty chunk for all of these players as well with their values (via CIES) totaling £236million. Not all of these will be offloaded before then, of course, that's simply not feasible. But as many as the club can rid of will be ideal for Mauricio Pochettino as he will want to prepare well for the new campaign with a squad at least similar to what we see when the Premier League season kicks off.
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