Top 5 Chelsea Players Who May Get Sacrificed To Fund Diego Costa Transfer

With Mourinho planning for surgical changes to the team in Summer and with latest rumors suggesting that Chelsea are set to seal a 50 million deal to sign Atlético Madrid striker Diego Costa, we look at the top 5 players who may get sold in Summer in-order to fund the transfer fee for the Spanish striker and to reduce the wage bill.

5. Samuel Eto’o

The Cameroon international centre forward would be out of contract in the summer and there have been no talks of a contract extension. Mourinho had also said that he would have liked Eto’o to stay but the Cameroonian himself wants to move on and enjoy his last stages of his career in a smaller and easier league. But recently there have been rumours about Inter interested in luring him to the San Siro.

All the rumours and press conferences have pointed towards Eto’o playing out his 1 year deal and moving on. Eto’o has had a decent scoring season so far having scored 11 goals in all competitions including a hattrick against fierce rivals Manchester United. But all his 11 goals have been at home.

4. Fernando Torres

Once a world class striker in Liverpool, Fernando Torres has been a pale shadow of his former self in a Chelsea shirt ever since his record breaking transfer. With only a meager return of 4 goals from 10 starts and about as many substitute appearances doesn’t make the case any stronger for the Spaniard.

Torres has contributed to some important goals on the European stage but as he was brought to be 20 goals a season striker for the Premier League, Nando is yet to complete a goal tally of 20 goals in three seasons as a Blues Centre forward.

Many claim that Torres has lost his explosive pace due to which he has become under-confident. Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid are interested in Torres but his wages might be too much for these clubs to pay. As Chelsea look to clear out their squad in order to adhere to the Financial Fair Play rules, Torres becomes a “must-sell” player.

3. Demba Ba

Brought from Newcastle in the Janueary transfer window of 2013 so has to provide competition for Torres, Ba has fallen down the pecking order in the StamfordBridge. Jose Mourinho doesn’t seem to consider Ba as among his better centre forwards and has hence given the Senegalese international very few chances in comparison to Fernando Torres and Samuel Eto’o. Ba is not seen as someone who is technically gifted but as a tough centre forward.

Despite scoring the crucial winner at StamfordBridge against PSG to propel Chelsea to the UCL Semi-Finals, Ba will be sold in a bid to clear out the squad to increase the transfer budget.

2. Romelu Lukaku

The inclusion of the young Belgian means that Chelsea would look to clear out all their centre forwards and buy fresh ones. The fact that many consider Lukaku as the best option among all four Chelsea centre forward options, he will also be most likely to draw the highest transfer bid, which can be around 25 million.

Despite his prolific loan spell at West Brom, Lukaku was loaned again to Everton where he has alone scored as many goals as Eto’o, Torres and Ba. But there have been rumours about Jose Mourinho not having a keen liking to the Belgian and the striker’s agent has also spoken about “finding a club” for him. The latest rumours were that Tottenham and Arsenal are interested in his services.

1. Marko Marin

The forgotten German winger will have to be the one who’ll be sold. Bought in 2012, Marin never settled in Chelsea and was loaned off to Sevilla. Marin is known for his great passing and creativity but he’s also known for his constant injury problems. Constant niggles have not allowed him to settle down in Chelsea but he has somehow managed to settle in Sevilla despite having hamstring issues and has expressed his desire to continue playing for Sevilla on a permanent deal if the clubs want him to.