Paul Merson has warned that Chelsea could potentially lose out on their key stars like Enzo Fernandez and Cole Palmer without Champions League football.
The international break has been a bit of an eye-opener for Chelsea fans in particular, with a host of their players making public comments on a range of topics. Some of those have already fuelled transfer speculation, with the likes of Enzo Fernandez, Cole Palmer and Marc Cucurella all under the spotlight for one reason or another.
Fernandez has been linked with Real Madrid, and he has made non-committal comments about his Chelsea future on multiple occasions in recent weeks. Palmer has been linked with Manchester United among other teams, and without Champions League football, Chelsea might potentially lose those stars from their squad.
Paul Merson echoed the sentiment on Sky Sports, insisting that big players at Chelsea could leave for another challenge without Champions League football next season.
Merson said, “Players go away with their country and talk to one of the local papers or the magazine in their country, and then it gets it gets back to England.”
“They go, I didn’t mean to say that, you know, it’s been happening for years and years.
“If Chelsea doesn’t get in the Champions League, there’s going to be a problem.
“Players will want to, want to leave. They want to play in the Champions League.
“They want to play at the big table. So for me, it’s so important these last seven games or so, and starting with Man City at home, which is a difficult game.”
Chelsea are somewhat relaxed about the situation with players like Fernandez or Palmer, given they have longer-term contracts with those players and others. However, Merson went on to explain that even with a longer-term contract, Chelsea could still sell those stars if there is a strong offer on the table, citing their business model as an example.
Merson continued, “They buy young players in to sell them for more money.”
“I mean, that’ll be the model, because this team’s not winning the Premier League. I’m a Chelsea fan, they’re not going to win the Premier League.
“It’s not set out to win the Premier League over 38 games, but on any given Saturday, they will beat someone, but they won’t do it over 38 games.
“So for me, they need to change it. If they get the right money, if they got £120m, for Palmer and they bought him for £40 I’d be shocked if they didn’t sell him, in my opinion.”
Merson certainly has a huge point with his comments, as Chelsea might consider selling for the right price. However, the push from players to leave the club without Champions League football could add another layer of complexity to the whole saga.
The Blues are expected to demand significantly for the likes of Palmer or Fernandez, which would then determine which clubs are willing to fork out those numbers.