West Ham, Crystal Palace ‘could be’ interested in Batshuayi, but not at Chelsea’s asking price — report

Michy Batshuayi made the bench on Tuesday for the first time in Project Restart, but his future at Chelsea (or lack thereof) is surely a foregone conclusion at this point. Despite that, there’s been a mildly surprising lack of rumors about his next destination — though considering that he’s only had a couple brief good spells since joining Chelsea in 2016, maybe that’s not so surprising after all.

Part of the reason could also be that Chelsea still want to extract maximum value from the player, which, according to Belgian outlet DH (via Sport Witness) means a transfer fee close to the €40m that we spent four years ago. Of course, with Michy’s current deal set to expire in 2021, and the COVID-19 pandemic leaving football finances in disarray, Chelsea’s intentions seem like wishful thinking, to say the least.

The report adds that Premier League sides West Ham and Crystal Palace ‘could be interested’, but certainly not at the current asking price.

Batshuayi’s time at Chelsea has been unimpressive, and this summer will be the last chance for Chelsea to salvage some value from the situation. But although Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia is regarded as a tough negotiator, getting anything even close to €40m might be beyond even her abilities.