Chelsea must make at least one January sale to bridge €15m gap for top target | OneFootball

Chelsea’s January plans seemed pretty simple in the build-up to the window – there were no plans to do anything major, just the standard mid-season shuffling of a few loans around.

But last week things really kicked into gear with the top rumour sources claiming that the Blues were going to try to sign Jeremy Jacquet from Rennes. That is no surprise in some ways – the 20 year old is maybe the highest rated central defender of his age in Europe right now.

But the finances don’t seem to add up – Chelsea are having their finances closely watched by UEFA after a settlement last summer. Rennes want to beat the €64m they got from Man City for Jeremy Doku when they sell Jacquet. It seems impossible Chelsea could match that.

Jacquet deal a long way off if Chelsea can’t make a sale or two

Jeremy Jacquet in action for Rennes in Ligue 1.

Kieran Gill’s piece for the Daily Mail explains it a little better. According him, Rennes are pushing for €70m, while Chelsea want to pay €45m with another potential €10m in add-ons.

That still leaves a pretty vast €15m gap between valuations. But a €45m payment up front for Chelsea is just about do-able – if they can shift an asset this month.

The Blues would quite clearly like to sell Tyrique George, Axel Disasi, and maybe a couple of others if the offer is right. But until they do that (and there seems to be little concrete interest in any of them, let alone all of them), the Jacquet deal seems almost impossible to pull off at any price that Rennes would take.

In other news…

We’re now a few years into Chelsea’s buy low, sell high strategy. And the bill is coming due – how will it work out? It sounds like this summer is contract crunch time.

Chelsea’s predicted XI for tonight is here – we think some big names will miss out, but others will get their chance in a surprisingly strong team to face Pafos.