Mauricio Pochettino will be desperate to hold onto Chelsea's best players this summer despite having missed out on Champions League football
Paul Merson has insisted that Chelsea must not sell Mason Mount or N'Golo Kante this summer. The two midfielders both face increasingly uncertain futures at Stamford Bridge and they could be offloaded in the summer transfer window.
If the two parties cannot reach an agreement than the England international will become a free agent in 12 months and, until then, he'll be available on the market for a discounted fee. As for Kante, he sees his contract with the west Londoners expiring at the end of next month and he's yet to commit his long-term future to the club.
As it stands, Mauricio Pochettino could lose two key components to his perfect midfield next season – according to the CIES Football Observatory, they're valued at a combined £73.8million. In a column for Sportskeeda, Merson explained why Todd Boehly must do whatever it takes to retain Mount and Kante ahead of the Argentine's arrival.
"After a lorry load of games across all competitions, we still don’t know Chelsea’s best starting XI and we’re at the final game of the season," said the former Arsenal midfielder. "That just sums them up, really.
"They have too many players and with Mauricio Pochettino set to take over the reins from Frank Lampard, he’s got a massive job on his hands to trim the squad. He won’t want to work with 30-odd players, so I think there could be a bit of a fire sale at Stamford Bridge this summer.
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"Two players who shouldn’t be allowed to leave are Mason Mount and N’Golo Kante. Chelsea face an uphill battle to finish in the top four next season, so they can’t afford to sell Mount to the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United or Liverpool, as they’d be strengthening one of their rivals.
"He’s come to a bit of a standstill this season but he was Chelsea’s Player of the Year in 2021 and has a wealth of experience for a 24-year-old."
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BeRaw
0
ALL I CAN SEE IS CHELSEA ACTUALLY MAKING ALOTT OF MONEY THIS WINDOW Sell most of the attackers and attack mfds, especially the ones that’s been there for over 2 seasons…..let the loan guys go back home to, sell all our on-loan players including lukaku Bring in the osimhem and nkunku and def mdfs, enzo and kante are going to need alott of talented extra hands Our defenders are great despite how awful our forwards are, but we need to maybe loan some of them or sell, hall should be a regular next season, he can fight chilwell… fofana, cucu and kouli have all been a waste of money especially cucu
Wuyemnopty
0
The only players i want Chelsea to keep are Kante, Enzo, Hall, Silva, Madueke
Same sell both Fofanas, Cucurella who are shite
Wuyemnopty
0
Sell the whole team
Josh0521
0
The only players i want Chelsea to keep are Kante, Enzo, Hall, Silva, Madueke
Both fofana as well. One silly mistake is not enough to slash him. He’s been solid all this while
ManUnited-Red
1
Lost 4-1 yesterday lol 🤣🤣🤣🔥
zakalnruz
2
The only players i want Chelsea to keep are Kante, Enzo, Hall, Silva, Madueke and James.
zakalnruz
2
The only players i want Chelsea to keep are Kante, Enzo, Hall, Silva, Madueke