The five players Chelsea must sell first this summer - including £35m flop and controversial midfielder
Chelsea simply have to get it right in the 2026 summer transfer window
The 2025/26 season has been a mixed bag for Chelsea, to say the least. On the plus side, they won the Club World Cup, recruited their best striker in years in Joao Pedro, and have an FA Cup final to look forward to later this month. Less impressively, they’ve burned their way through two managers, the league form has tanked, and their squad still looks remarkably unpolished given the enormous amount of money they’ve spent on it.
With four matches of their Premier League campaign left to go, it’s still unclear whether the Blues will manage to secure European football for next season. This could be a crucial factor in determining which stars are sold this summer, with a number of key players likely to have their heads turned should Chelsea fail to make the grade.
The club’s owners have hinted that they could finally shift to a more balanced transfer policy this summer, with the reliance almost exclusively on raw, young talent continuing to cause frustration for both fans and the more established stars at the club. Here are five players the club should sell this summer, as they look to freshen things up for 2026/27.
Robert Sanchez and Liam Delap could be sold this summer
Robert Sanchez: Chelsea’s number one gets a huge amount of stick, and to a degree that’s fair, given the sheer amount of galling errors he’s made in goal since joining the club from Brighton back in 2023.
The thing is, if he were a Premier League goalkeeper in a previous era before playing out for the back became de rigueur, his unquestionably impressive shot-stopping would have made him a far more highly regarded player. He also seems to love a big occasion, excelling in both the Club World Cup final vs Paris Saint-Germain and the FA Cup semi-final vs Leeds United.
If Chelsea are to improve, however, they must to stop leaking goals, and Sanchez needs to be the first player the club look to upgrade. In terms of a decent replacement, they’ve been linked with the likes of Bart Verbruggen from Brighton and Borussia Dortmund’s Gregor Kobel, while Man City’s James Trafford and Sunderland’s Robin Roefs could also come under consideration.
Liam Delap: Delap has had more yellow cards in the Premier League than goals this season - that tells you all you need to know about how his debut campaign at Chelsea has gone. While it’s only fair to point out that he’s had fairly limited game-time, he’s repeatedly failed to impress when called upon, looking a shadow of the player that bagged 12 league goals for Ipswich Town last season.
The west Londoners do have a history of giving up on players too soon, only for them to go on to thrive elsewhere - Mohamed Salah and Kevin de Bruyne are two galling examples - but with Everton and Newcastle United both said to be interested, the Blues would do well to cut their losses and invest in a more experienced option to challenge Pedro for a starting spot.
Fernandez, Jackson and Badiashile should also leave
Enzo Fernandez: Yes, selling the Argentina international would make Chelsea a weaker team, that’s not up for debate. However, he clearly has his heart set on a move to Real Madrid, and those rumours will only continue to grow as time goes on. The Blues would do well to rip off the plaster and get the pain out of the way, avoiding a media circus.
Selling the vice-captain would bring in close to £100m, you would imagine, and give the Blues plenty of spending power this summer. Sunderland’s Noah Sadiki has been touted as a potential replacement for the 25-year-old, who has enjoyed an exceptional first season in the Premier League, also attracting the interest of Man United and elite sides in Europe. This could also allow Cole Palmer to return to his favoured number ten role - the one he scored 22 Premier League goals in during his first season at the club.
Nicolas Jackson: The Senegal striker typifies kind of player Chelsea have signed under their new ownership - bags of potential, but miles off being ready to perform consistently in the Premier League. His loan spell at Bayern Munich has been largely underwhelming, given that he’s had to serve as Harry Kane’s understudy, and he’s expected back at Stamford Bridge at the end of the season.
Like Delap, there’s plenty of interest in Jackson, with a number of clubs convinced they can mould him into a top class striker. Chelsea simply don’t have the time to do that - they need results now, and moving on the ex-Villarreal forward will allow them to build their transfer war chest further.
Benoit Badiashile: Like Sanchez, Badiashile just doesn’t suit a system that relies so heavily on building out from the back. He’s been at the club for three-and-a-half seasons now, and still hasn’t managed to look anywhere close to a Premier League level defender. He’s also been highly injury prone since joining the club in a £35m move from Monaco back in 2023.
Recent reports have suggested he could be AC Milan bound this summer, as part of a swap deal involving Serbian defender Strahinja Pavlovic.