Chelsea set price for Juve-linked wantaway as Pochettino makes Joao Felix decision

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24 September 2024, 07:15 yayınlandı

Chelsea are set to sell Christian Pulisic for a significant loss this summer as Mauricio Pochettino looks to trim the Blues’ bulging squad.

Pulisic was signed by Chelsea for £60m in January 2019, eventually arriving at Stamford Bridge in the summer of that year having been loaned back to Borussia Dortmund for the remainder of that season.

He’s at times threatened to become a source of consistent quality for Chelsea, but has never reached the level expected of him when he joined the club.

Pulisic said back in September that he was relishing a “fresh start” under Graham Potter after his relationship with Thomas Tuchel suffered through some particularly .

But he was again little more than a backup option under Potter and hasn’t featured much under Frank Lampard, possibly because he was among the players making clear their desire to leave in training.

Manchester United were linked with a move for Pulisic last summer, and again in January, but they appear to have gone off the American, with Serie A now looking like his more likely destination.

Former Chelsea star Olivier Giroud wants Pulisic – who he – to join him at AC Milan, while Juventus are also said to be keen.

ESPN report that Chelsea have set a price tag of just £20m for Pulisic, in part because his contract expires at the end of next season, but also due to his value decreasing significantly in his time at Stamford Bridge.

For a while it was thought Pulisic, along with Hakim Ziyech and Callum Hudson-Odoi, may be sold this summer to drum up funds and space in the squad for the permanent arrival of Joao Felix, who’s spent the last six months on loan at Chelsea.

But Pochettino has made the () decision not to sign the Portugal international, as Atletico president Enrique Cerezo confirmed Felix would be returning to the Spanish capital.

Cerezo told Spanish outlet AS: “Yesterday we had the news that the new Chelsea manager (Pochettino) does not (want) Joao Félix.

“We’ve known for less than 24 hours. He’ll come back here and we’ll see. We don’t have anything planned.”