Chelsea open to selling Willian — report

Chelsea may yet end up with the Double this season, but (hopefully) that doesn’t mean that we will be resting on our laurels in the summer, happy to carry on with the current squad as is. Reinforcements, replacements, and upgrades will be needed to get the team properly set up for the busier fixture list as well as to simply keep up with the rest of the Premier League top six who will all no doubt see plenty of investment as well. We do not want a repeat of the 2010 and 2015 summer transfer windows.

Part of the process however will include a few players leaving, and that could include Willian as well. Chelsea’s 2015-16 Player of the Year has seen his role reduced this season as Pedro established himself in Conte’s preferred starting eleven, and has recently been linked (again) with Manchester United.

According to the Times and a few others, Chelsea are even open to the idea of selling Willian, who has apparently been attracting interest from Italy and China as well. While there’s no valuation mentioned for the free-kick master who will turn 29 this summer and still has four years left on his current contract, Chelsea would supposedly use the fee received to “strengthen the squad” for next season’s European campaign.

Willian has spoken many times of his love for Chelsea and his desire to keep playing for the Blues for a long time, but the business of football sometimes results in changed plans and tough decisions. Several of this season’s Chelsea regulars are in the late 20s if not early 30s — probably just a bit too old to be a massive part of Conte’s ‘New Guard’ for much longer. If we are to properly freshen up the squad this season, some of these players (Costa, Fàbregas, Willian, Pedro, Matić) could very well be heading towards the chopping block.