‘Time for him to go’ – Chelsea star told exit is justified amid claims he’ll quit the Blues

A downtrodden Chelsea star is ‘ready to quit’ the club in January and one observer has explained why the time is right to leave west London.

The Blues are understood to be on the hunt for several major-name acquisitions next month. A striker is wanted, with both Ivan Toney and Viktor Gyokeres in their sights.

Elsewhere, when the Blues recently touched base with Sporting CP regarding Gyokeres, they also enquired into the signing of centre-half Ousmane Diomande.

Chelsea do have funds at their disposal next month despite their colossal outlay on transfers in recent years.

However, to ensure they can attract the calibre of player they require, a player exit or two might be needed to top up the war chest.

To that end, the Evening Standard recently claimed Chelsea would give priority to shifting homegrown players. Doing so greatly benefits clubs from a Financial Fair Play perspective.

Football finance expert, Kieran Maguire, recently clarified: “The reason the sale of academy players is so beneficial to a club from a financial fair play perspective is that the profit on the sale is taken immediately to the income statement.”

The Standard listed Trevoh Chalobah and Ian Maatsen as names who could go. Conor Gallagher has also been heavily linked with leaving despite the fact he’s adored by manager Mauricio Pochettino.

The Standard also named underused centre-half, Malang Sarr, as being on the chopping block.

The 24-year-old has made just 21 appearances for Chelsea since his arrival as a free agent from French football in August of 2020.

Sarr has been farmed out on loan to Porto and Monaco, though was retained in Chelsea’s squad for the current campaign.

The decision has not benefitted the player, however, with Sarr yet to make a single appearances this term.

That led to Football Insider claiming the frustrated defender ‘is ready to quit Chelsea’ in January.

Now, former Tottenham and England goalkeeper, Paul Robinson, has declared Sarr’s time is up in west London.

Sarr a victim of Chelsea squad bloating – Robinson

Speaking to Football Insider, Robinson stated: “If you look at the loan moves he’s had at the lack of first-team opportunities, it’s time for him to go.

“Yes, he came with big expectations, but with the new manager there now trying to create a new style, it just seems he’s a victim of the amount of personnel in the squad.

“If you’re not getting a look in before all this happened, and now there are all these players and you’re still not playing, then it’s probably time for him to move on and Chelsea will look to sell.”

Robinson then referenced the Gallagher speculation and suggested if Chelsea are willing to sell a regular starter, then the writing is probably on the wall for a player they never use like Sarr.

“I’ve heard about Conor Gallagher potentially going and moving on, who’s played most of the games this season,” continued Robinson.

“So if they’re potentially looking to move players like that on, then the writing’s obviously on the wall for him.”

Sarr has been tentatively linked with moves to Turkey or Italy next month, though nothing concrete has emerged just yet.

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