Marina Granovskaia and Tuchel working to sell 13-players, agent tells Chelsea £90 million deal could be done, as Klopp fires Chelsea warning to his team
Chelsea chief Marina Granovskaia is ready to work with manager Thomas Tuchel to oversee a clearout of at least 13 players this summer.
Goal says Olivier Giroud is out of contract at the end of the season, so will leave on a free transfer.
Tammy Abraham could also move on, with Leicester and West Ham two clubs interested in signing the England international.
There are also 11 players who are currently out on loan who will be allowed to leave.
AC Milan have an option to sign Fikayo Tomori for £25million. Ike Ugbo, on loan at Cercle Brugge, is wanted by Watford, Fulham, Monaco and Genk.
PAOK and Napoli have doubts over permanent deals for Baba Rahman and Tiemoue Bakayoko respectively.
Michy Batshuayi has spent this season on loan at Crystal Palace and Ross Barkley at Aston Villa, with both players up for sale.
Centre-back Matt Miazga, right-back Davide Zappacosta, as well as former Premier League winner Victor Moses will all be allowed to leave as well.
Midfielder Danny Drinkwater and winger Kenedy make up the list of 13 players who can move on.
Mino Raiola has suggested Borussia Dortmund may be tempted to sell Erling Haaland this summer, with Chelsea linked with the striker.
Regarded as one of the finest strikers in world football right now, there has been alot of speculation in the media that we are one club that are lining up a massive £90 million offer in the transfer window to get a deal done.
Thomas Tuchel wants to add a striker to the squad that is able to land 30-goals a season and is hoping that he gets the funds to delve into that market and beat off Real Madrid and Barcelona to the signature of Haaland.
“What we know as of today is that Dortmund spoke extremely solemnly to us and said: ‘We are not selling him’. That’s the situation, definitely,” Haaland’s agent Raiola told AS. “That’s what they’ve said. Now let’s see if that desire is still there through to the 1st of September.
“Today, the official stance of Dortmund is this. But I’ve got another view, I think that if a good opportunity comes up and everyone would be happy, we’ll put it on the table.”
Haaland is only 20, but is one of the premier forwards in Europe and Raiola feels his client will have the pick of the pack.
“Haaland is interested in two things: Scoring goals, because he’s a little bit like Cristiano [Ronaldo] or Zlatan [Ibrahimovic]… it’s his obsession, in a positive way. And winning titles.
“No doubt he’ll pick somewhere where he feels those two things go together best for him. It’s really hard to lie. When a club like Barcelona or Real Madrid comes in for you, with so much history and being such a big club, it’s hard to say no. PSG is getting into this group of big clubs, City is trying, Juve have always been there.
“The league they play in is important too. PSG plays in the worst league of the big clubs. Bayern are in an attractive league, but we know they always win it. In Spain there are three clubs with a chance.”
Klopp fires Chelsea warning to his team
Liverpool are in a surprise position at the moment, as they may not be in the Champions League next season.
Last season’s Premier League champions have been knocked out of every cup competition, including the Champions League where Real Madrid kicked them out in the quarter-final stage.
Liverpool are currently in 6th position and have had a season to forget, after a phenomenal campaign last term.
Klopp has even admitted that next season won’t be any easier, and has listed Chelsea as part of the teams that will fight for the trophy. According to Klopp, new Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel was presented with a fine gift.
“We are responsible for the things that happen to us. We were involved in the last few years constantly in semi-finals and fighting or league titles,” said Klopp.
“I don’t know if other teams felt bad because of us but I wish for them not, I’m not like that. I’m not a person like this.
“They [City] deserve the situation they are in. That is football, that is fair. They won an awful lot of games. United turned the game around [against Roma] – like they did 20 times this year. ‘I had my bad moments in the season for other reasons, not because other teams are winning more games than us.
“That’s not my problem, my only problem is with the opponent of the specific weekend and not think, ‘oh my God, City again and United are back on track’.
“Life is too short for these kind of worries or thoughts. ‘We will challenge them again next year but this year we can only finish our season as good as possible and we have nothing to do with semi-finals and finals.
“It always becomes harder because City never stops. That is clear. They did not stop and they will not stop.
“United is coming up definitely everyone can see that, Chelsea is obviously in a brilliant place, a top squad.
“Thomas [Tuchel] inherited a present and you can see that they are really good so it will not get easier.
“We’re not just talking about City there will be other teams for sure. We have to deal with all the other teams who are outstandingly strong but still go under the radar like Leicester: brilliant manager and a top squad dealing with different situations.
“Nobody should write off Tottenham or Arsenal. Obviously West Ham is now flying. How can it be easier? It is not only City.”