PREMIER LEAGUE
Chelsea set for busy final days of transfer window
It’s been another summer of change at Stamford Bridge but there’s still important business to be done in West London.
Chelsea secured their first win of the Premier League season on Sunday, thrashing Wolverhampton Wanderers 6-2 to kick-start their 2024/25 campaign. Recently-appointed head coach Enzo Maresca is still adapting to his new surroundings and he’s had plenty of change to deal with over the summer.
For the third consecutive season, Chelsea have been the Premier League’s biggest spenders this summer. They have spent £204 million ($270m) on new talent, with Pedro Neto (£54m/$71m), Joao Felix (£45m/$69m) and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (£30m/$40m) their biggest deals to date.
However the league’s Profit and Sustainability (PSR) rules now leave the Stamford Bridge hierarchy needing to balance the books in the coming days. Under the new rules, teams cannot lose more than £105 million across a three-year period.
When is the Premier League deadline day?
Chelsea are looking to offload a number of senior players before the league’s summer transfer deadline on Friday, August 30. Chelsea can make changes again in January to help offset their enormous recent spending, but now represents a key time for club.
The likes of Raheem Sterling, Romelu Lukaku, Trevoh Chalobah, and Cesare Casadei do not appear to be in Maresca’s first team plans and he will be eager to shift some of them in the coming days, in part just to slim down his bloated squad.
The situations of Raheem Sterling and Romelu Lukaku, in particular, will be crucial. Chelsea spent around £150 million to bring them to Stamford Bridge but neither has shown their true potential and are costing the club a fortune on wages. Both have interest from Italy but it remains to be seen if any Serie A clubs will be willing to pay a significant transfer fee.
Although the Premier League’s spending has slowed this summer - likely due to the financial rules and threat of punishment - it still dwarfs the spending of other leagues. English clubs have spent more than £1.5 billion so far; Italy is in second place with a total spend of £617 million.