Mystery Chelsea player turns down new contract – we’ve got a good guess who, and why | OneFootball

One Chelsea player has apparently recently turned down a contract, preferring to open talks in the summer, and we speculate that it might be Malo Gusto.

It’s been a slow news week, so we’ve absolutely loved the long ready from Liam Twomey and Simon Johnson today about Chelsea’s contract strategy and how it’s playing out now we’re a couple of years into it.

One thing we noted was that their source told them that “one player recently turned down proposed terms with a view to revisiting the situation at the end of the season.”

Chelsea’s mystery player who turned down new contract “recently”

Malo Gusto with Liam Rosenior. (Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC)

We wonder who that is, and why that might be. Is it someone who is playing more than expected, and wants to keep proving their value before signing a long deal? Or someone who is playing less than they want, who wants to keep some leverage over their future?

One person who comes to mind is Malo Gusto. He’s on a low salary relative to his importance to the squad. He’s used a lot as Reece James’ backup on the right, and as Marc Cucurella’s on the left. We’d think he’s in the former camp, keen to keep proving his utility and hope to get a bigger raise in the summer

In other news…

Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo are at the front of the queue for new deals – unsurprising given their status in the squad. It will be very interesting to see where common ground is found in terms of their salary.

The fact that the players are asking for money is to be expected – and clearly this policy has some positives as a number of other top clubs (and West Ham) are following suit, as you can read here.

Check out the latest edition of Simon Phillips’ SPTC podcast here: