Phase one of fire sale gives Poch workable solution

PHASE ONE of Chelsea’s £212 million fire sale has been a success, allowing the club to rebuild under Mauricio Pochettino.

- Nizaar Kinsella

Co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart have masterminded a plan to ship out seven players to reset after a chaotic season.

They have rejected Inter Milan’s efforts to sign both Romelu Lukaku and Kalidou Koulibaly on cut-price loan deals, insisting their focus is only on selling players.

Winstanley and Lawrence have put the majority of the club’s senior players up for sale this month to re-mould the squad in July. Chelsea are working on signing midfielders in Brighton’s Moises Caicedo and Celta Vigo’s Gabri Veiga, with Villarreal’s striker Nicolas Jackson having completed his medical — but sales have been the focus.

Top brass Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali remain informed but have allowed their newly-appointed sporting directors to lead the rebuild.

Boehly did travel to Riyadh in early June, however, to meet Al-Hilal’s owner before they signed Koulibaly, who would have struggled to find a European move on his £200,000-a-week wages. Lukaku went on to reject a move to the same club.

Edouard Mendy joined Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia but Hakim Ziyech’s move to Al-Nassr collapsed. N’Golo Kante joined Al-Ittihad for free.