Total revolution at Chelsea

And “stand by”. This is Chelsea’s sports planning after the British government has announced that it is sanctioning Roman Abramovich, to which all its assets have been frozen, including the blue club, which will not be able to close any agreement until May 31. The date on which the sanction expires, unless a new owner takes over the Stamford Bridge team earlier.

The defending champions of the Champions League have pending renewals for three players whose contracts expire at the end of this season. As of July 1, Andreas Christensen, Antonio Rüdiger and César Azpilicueta will be free to go to any other club without financial compensation for Chelsea.

The three defenders are experiencing a similar situation, because they have not yet made their departure official and because Chelsea will not be able to sign them a contract extension. Until May 31, the English team will have frozen all its important operations, both in the expenses and income section, and therefore, it will not have the capacity to negotiate an agreement with Azpilicueta, Christensen and Rüdiger; that, on the other hand, they will be able to do it with another club.

Christensen and Rüdiger have absolute freedom to close their exit at the moment they consider appropriate, although they could still wait for the arrival of the new owner to renew -an almost impossible extreme-. Like the Austrian and German central defender, Azpilicueta ends his contract with Chelsea on June 30, but the team blue had a one-year automatic renewal option in the event that the Spanish defender played 30 games this season.

Azpilicueta has already played 30 games, but Chelsea have not executed the renewal option, and as the application of sanctions is immediate, the team will not be able to renew him. At least until May 31 or until there is a new owner who is in charge of negotiating with the player.

FC Barcelona was very close to closing the signing of Azpilicueta, but the latest events have not helped speed up the operation. Hence, upon hearing the news about Abramovich’s sanction, the blaugrana club has considered that the captain of Chelsea is renewed and the signing is frozen, as this newspaper has published. Although the arrival of the defender could be solved in the next few days… .

Transfers stall

During the next three months Chelsea will not be able to negotiate the arrival of new signings either. This is a major obstacle for the club’s sports planning, which will have to wait until the end of the season to start dealing with new arrivals. Therefore, Erling Haaland’s option is ruled out.

The west London team will be able to negotiate the transfer of new players when the future owner takes over. At that moment, the team will be free to operate normally. Meanwhile, Chelsea will be able to count on the players who have a current contract with the Blues and are on loan at other clubs, such as Conor Gallagher, on loan at Crystal Palace, or Armando Broja, at Southampton.

Gallagher and Broja are two of the biggest revelations in the Premier League and have a good chance of staying in the dynamic of the team led by Thomas Tuchel. But if they did not convince him, Chelsea could not carry out a sale or a new transfer, because the government also prevents it. That is why a hypothetical transfer of Romelu Lukaku seems very distant.