Chelsea and the transfer window

Let’s head back up the Fulham Road to Stamford Bridge.  When I last wrote about Chelsea, shortly before the summer transfer window closed, I said that they were on course for a “huge” cash outflow.  So how did things pan out?

1.   The net summer outlay was indeed huge.  It looks to have been around £65m, with only one significant player sale (Meireles, for £8m) to defray the cost of Hazard, Oscar, Moses and Azpilicueta.  Then again…

2.   …this kind of expenditure isn't unusual for Chelsea.  It was nearly as much last season (Mata, Lukaku and Meireles accounting for the majority of it) and substantially more in 2010-11, the second of Ancelotti's two seasons at the helm (Torres and Luiz were the big buys that year).  Still, at this rate…

3.  …Chelsea will need about £60m of extra cash this season, I reckon.  The main variable is progress in the Champions League, and I’m assuming exit in the quarter-finals.  But even if they win the thing again, net cash outlay for the season will still be in the region of £30m.  And…

4.  …that’s probably okay with Abramovich.  I've argued in the past that he is content to subsidise the club to the tune of about £50m a year.  If so, then he'd probably rather like to see progress to the Champions League semi-finals.  Alternatively…

5.   …Di Matteo could raise some cash in the winter transfer window.  Malouda – banished from the first-team squad to train with the youngsters – is one possible source of that.  But since his contract expires next summer anyway, he may be content to hang on and move as a free agent.  So instead…

6.   …Sturridge could be offloaded.  His contract reportedly expires next summer too – at which point he’ll still be young (23), and with a very respectable Premier League goalscoring record to boot.   There would be plenty of clubs willing to pay £10m for him, which would be enough to keep Chelsea’s cash burn for the season down to around £50m.  

7.   The other main options for bringing in some cash would be Mikel and Ramires, both of whom will be entering the last 18 months of their contracts in January, and both of whom are comfortably the right side of 30.  But they seem to be very much part of Di Matteo's squad at the moment.