It's set to be a busy summer at Stamford Bridge after the Blues secured a return to the Champions League
Chelsea face a huge summer. By returning to the Champions League, the Blues have established a platform that can be a launchpad to bigger and better things, while head coach Enzo Maresca believes a piece of silverware in the form of the Conference League will foster a "winning mentality".
Now, the onus is on the club to get their business right, ensuring lessons have been learned from last year's failed window when more than £100 million ($135m) was splurged on the likes of Joao Felix, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Renato Veiga and Omari Kellyman – none of whom have had any impact at Stamford Bridge.
There are already the signs that the scattergun has been holstered, with highly-rated midfielder Dario Essugo signed on a pre-agreement from Sporting CP and coveted striker Liam Delap joining from Ipswich Town for just £30m ($40m), as the west Londoners take advantage of the mini transfer window for Club World Cup participants that runs until June 10. Jadon Sancho, meanwhile, has been sent back to Manchester United after Chelsea chose to pay the £5m fee that cancelled the obligation to buy that was included in his initial loan deal.
However, there is so much more still to do, both in terms of incomings and outgoings. Here are the key issues that Chelsea should be prioritising this summer…
Getty ImagesSettle the striker debate
It had been abundantly clear for some time that Chelsea needed a new, consistent striker. And if you believe what you read in the gossip columns, it seems the penny has finally dropped for the Blues' hierarchy, with a host of No.9s linked with a move to Stamford Bridge this summer.
The club has already moved to remedy that problem area by triggering Delap's £30m release clause to sign him from Ipswich ahead of the Club World Cup, and it seems likely another centre-forward will be brought in before the summer is out
It remains to be seen which direction they will go in, but the likes of Eintracht Frankfurt's Hugo Ekitike and RB Leipzig star Benjamin Sesko figure most prominently on their shortlist. Either of them would likely be another upgrade on Nicolas Jackson, and they both fit within the recent policy of signing high-potential young players. What that would mean for Jackson, though, is another question.
AdvertisementAFPHold onto Fernandez
As the season wore on, it became increasingly clear that central midfield is probably the most settled area of the pitch for Chelsea, with Moises Caicedo at the base, Enzo Fernandez as the No.8 and Cole Palmer deployed as an attacking midfielder. All of them were near ever-present, and the west Londoners cannot afford that core to be disrupted amid reported transfer interest from elsewhere.
Namely, that surrounds Fernandez, who finally started to show his best form in a Chelsea shirt in 2024-25, improving with every passing game and emerging as a much-needed leader in the young squad. The idea of selling him at this stage, then, would be completely unpalatable to the Blues fanbase. But amid murmurs that Real Madrid are circling, Chelsea will know they are in dangerous waters.
It has been reported that the Premier League club has no plans to sell a player they value at more than the £107 million ($138m) they paid in 2023, but when Madrid want something, they usually get it. The Premier League club will, then, have to repel Los Blancos' magnetic pull.
For what it's worth, Maresca has already shut down the transfer talk, responding when asked if Fernandez would be staying at Chelsea: "Yes. It’s a main player for us. He’s one of the captains, he’s one of the leaders. This season he has been very good. He can be even better next season, starting from the first day. Nothing to say about speculation. His focus is on us and this is the most important thing."
Getty Images SportTrim the fat
There are, though, plenty of other players that Chelsea should be moving on as soon as the window opens. There are at least 15 senior squad members who should, in theory, be on the chopping block – including failed recent signings Christopher Nkunku, Felix, Benoit Badiashile and Dewsbury-Hall.
Indeed, such is the number of players the club could cut loose that the incoming transfer fees could go some way to funding the Blues' summer signings, with a goalkeeper, full-back, winger and strikers on their shopping list. Bearing in mind the Premier League's Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR), there is some shrewd business to be done.
A return to the Champions League will, of course, necessitate a bigger squad, but there are currently too many fringe players in the setup who have failed to prove that they are worthy alternatives, with a chasm in quality between the starting XI and what has often been available from the bench.
Meanwhile, there is the usual hoard of youngsters who would benefit from loan moves away, including Mathis Amougou, Aaron Anselmino, Kellyman and perhaps even Marc Guiu. Alfie Gilchrist should probably go out again, too, after initially impressing at Sheffield United.
Getty ImagesReinforce the flanks
Chelsea will be on the lookout for at least one new left-sided winger this summer. That's little surprise in light of Sancho's return to Manchester United and the fact that Mykhailo Mudryk is still serving a provisional doping ban as he awaits the results of a 'B' sample and a final judgement.
The Ukrainian is almost certainly going to be unavailable for an even more extended period, and while Pedro Neto can operate on the left and young Tyrique George has shown flashes of his potential, it is a position that could be filled by a high-quality, long-term solution.
Maresca has previously made it clear he wants two strong options in every position, with Neto, Noni Madueke and the incoming Estevao Willian all nominally right-wingers, and Geovany Quenda arriving from Sporting CP in 2026. With Sancho gone and Mudryk banned, the Blues could be left very short on the opposite flank.
Borussia Dortmund's Jamie Gittens currently seems to be the most likely arrival, who – at 20 years old – fits into the club's current transfer strategy, although Barcelona wantaway Ansu Fati has been mentioned in despatches, and the club are known to have a long-standing admiration for Athletic Club's Nico Williams, too.
