Why Reece James could be sold to Premier League rival in huge transfer, even if it causes a riot among Chelsea fans

3 months ago 21

CHELSEA’S incredible spending spree under the Todd Boehly reign has brought a raft of new faces to Stamford Bridge.

The Blues have splashed out an astonishing £900m-plus in barely 18 months of their new ownership.

Reece James could be sold by Chelsea[/caption]

Todd Boehly has already sold a number of academy products[/caption]

But Boehly’s arrival has also brought a sales policy that has left some Chelsea fans concerned that the club’s ownership wants to sell off all the family silver to make the numbers balance.

Last summer saw the departures of Mason Mount, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ethan Ampadu.

Spurs are sniffing around Conor Gallagher, amid suggestions that the England midfielder is considered more than dispensable by the men who control the SW6 finances.

And a growing fear is that the brightest of all the home-grown Crown Jewels, skipper Reece James, could be one of the next faces out of the door – a rumour that will have certainly alerted Manchester City as they consider a long-term replacement for skipper Kyle Walker, 34 in May.

With FFP now having teeth, and Uefa’s new financial control mechanism directly tying a club’s ability to pay transfer fees and wages to revenues, Chelsea’s business model relies on making money from selling players.

Because the full price of a player being sold can be put into the annual calculations, while incoming fees are “amortised” over no more than five years, clubs need to sell to create the room to buy.

And with home grown players, the products of the Cobham Academy, there is no reduction in the value of sales because of the price of their initial contracts.

Many Blues supporters are edgy about seeing Gallagher walk out of the door – even more so if his final destination is their most-hated rivals in N17.

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Should James be viewed as surplus to requirements, there could be an outright rebellion.

But since the Boehley takeover, a succession of injuries has seen James make just 19 Prem starts out of the club’s 59 matches, less than one in three.

Even if the owners recognise the importance of the England right-back to the supporters, there is an argument that he is not making himself a critical member of the current team.

And, for Chelsea fans of an older vintage, there is history of a new owner taking against a favoured player.

In the 2002-03 season, Italian goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini was a big reason that Chelsea finished in the top four – opening the way for Roman Abramovich’s shock and game-changing takeover.

But in the following campaign, still under the doomed Claudio Ranieri, Cudicini made a series of high-profile mistakes, losing confidence and form.

Abramovich and his lieutenants decided Cudicini was not the keeper for them – although nobody would quibble with their decision to sign Petr Cech.

It did, though, leave Cudicini as a spare part.

Many Blues fans believe that James, 24, who has been at the club since the age of six, is an essential part of the fabric of Chelsea.

Yet there are no guarantees that Boehly and Co take the same view.

And if City, aware that the clock is ticking on Walker’s brilliant career, were to place a significant bid on the table, the temptation to cash in might be too great to resist.

James, if he could get over his injury issues, looks like the perfect fit for the City jigsaw, too.

Pace, physical strength, dead-ball delivery and a love of getting forward to join the attack and cross with precision, make him the embodiment of the City player blueprint.

The idea will cause palpitations among many Chelsea supporters, of course. They would be outraged.

But a business model is a business model. Money talks. And the accounts have to balance, even at Chelsea.