Chelsea transfer news: Ruben Loftus-Cheek must take pay cut to join AC Milan as Blues eye midfield signings

Club keen to offload England international as part of major revamp
Nizaar Kinsella4 May 2023

Ruben Loftus-Cheek will be forced to take a pay cut to facilitate a potential move from Chelsea to AC Milan this summer.

Chelsea are willing to offload Loftus-Cheek but his £150,000-a-week wages represent a stumbling block for clubs interested in signing the 27-year-old.

Champions League semi-finalists Milan hope to convince Loftus-Cheek to join fellow Chelsea academy graduate Fikayo Tomori at San Siro.

But he remains reluctant to leave his boyhood club and, despite having only one year left on his contract, would need to be forced out by the incoming manager at Stamford Bridge.

Mauricio Pochettino is expected to become the next Chelsea head coach and he will help guide a summer clear-out of players to reduce the size of the squad.

With Loftus-Cheek, Mason Mount and Conor Gallagher all facing uncertain futures, Chelsea have drawn up a list of potential midfield targets which includes Sporting’s Manuel Ugarte.

West Ham captain Declan Rice, Borussia Monchengladbach’s Manu Kone and Southampton wonderkid Romeo Lavia have also been identified as possible targets.

Several homegrown Chelsea players face uncertain futures and Loftus-Cheek is a player the owners at Stamford Bridge would like to leave.

Loftus-Cheek rejected a move away in January when he was made available for transfer in the last two days of the transfer window.

He was put up for sale with little notice alongside Gallagher, who refused a £45million move to Everton after being blocked from talking to Newcastle due to their status as rivals for Europe.

The sale of academy graduates will help Chelsea ensure they continue to stay in line with Financial Fair Play rules.

Target: Sporting midfielder Manuel Ugarte is of interest to Chelsea
Getty Images

Selling some homegrown stars would be pure profit under the new version of UEFA’s financial sustainability rules, and selling Loftus-Cheek, Mount, Gallagher, Levi Colwill, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Trevoh Chalobah could generate around £200m.

Liverpool lead a host of clubs interested in Mount, who also has one year left on his deal. Arsenal recently joined the race for Mount, along with Manchester United and Bayern Munich.

Mateo Kovacic, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Christian Pulisic, Hakim Ziyech, Edouard Mendy and Kalidou Koulibaly will also be made available for sale.

Chelsea have identified a striker, a midfielder and a goalkeeper as their transfer priorities this summer but those plans could change once Pochettino is appointed.

Napoli striker Victor Osimhen is admired but he unlikely to join team not in Europe, while Inter’s Andre Onana, Dortmund’s Gregor Kobel and Brentford’s David Raya feature on the goalkeeping shortlist.

Chelsea have a £28m option to buy to make Denis Zakaria's loan move permanent but are not likely to take it up.

They will also take a look at 19-year-old midfielder Andrey Santos, who is currently on loan at Vasco da Gama, during pre-season.

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