Best selling club in Europe?
©TM/IMAGO
Christopher Nkunku arrived at Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2023 with plenty of promise placed upon his shoulders at Chelsea. The Frenchman was just off the back of being the Bundesliga’s top goalscorer. In fact in the past two seasons for RB Leipzig, he had accumulated 58 goals and 29 assists in all competitions. However, injuries severely disrupted his first season on English shores – he managed just 439 minutes in the Premier League. Last season, his fitness improved but he was largely unfavoured by Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca, with the majority of his minutes limited to cup competitions.
Two years on, and the 27-year-old has left the west London club for significantly less than the €60 million they paid for him, as he joined AC Milan on Saturday. Nkunku has agreed a five-year deal with the Rossoneri, with the initial fee expected to be €37m. Whilst that may be less than Chelsea paid for him, it does continue the trend of the club bringing in significant money through player sales this summer, and this particular deal will take the Blues income to over €300m for this summer.
Chelsea player sales income to surpass €300m
If the Nkunku deal does go through for a fee of €37m, as illustrated in the graphic above, it will take the club’s income to €313.5m this summer. It will become their second biggest sale of the transfer window behind the €56m deal that saw Noni Madueke leave Stamford Bridge to sign for Arsenal. This would also take the club’s net spend to a positive figure for this summer, with the Blues having spent €279.7m on new players. As well as this, it also means Chelsea would extend their lead as the club with by far the highest total income from player sales this summer.
As highlighted above, following the sale of Nkunku, Chelsea (€313.5m) will be way ahead of second-placed Bournemouth (€237.1m) when it comes to player sales this summer. The Blues have been incredibly active in the transfer market since Todd Boehly arrived at the club in 2022, spending well over €1 billion on new recruits. Whilst at times this strategy has appeared gung-ho, and many of the club’s signing during this period have not worked out, one area that cannot be questioned is the club’s ability to extract decent fees for their players – whether they are performing or not.