Mason Mount is among Liverpool’s transfer targets for the summer window, and Chelsea may be eager to sell him before pre-season starts.
Three Chelsea players are on the radar for Liverpool this summer, with Mount joined by Conor Gallagher and Levi Colwill.
It is Mount who has taken the focus, with the club said to have held “significant talks” over a transfer for a player who will soon enter the final year of his contract.
After it was revealed that the Reds had withdrawn from the race to sign Jude Bellingham, the Times‘ Paul Joyce explained that “Liverpool want to target new players as soon as the transfer window opens.”
Jurgen Klopp will be eager to get his new signings into training as soon as possible – and Chelsea‘s predicament could play into Liverpool’s hands.
Pre-season usually starts in the first week of July, and in The Athletic, Liam Twomey explained that June 30 “is the cut-off date for any player sales to be booked in the club’s accounts for 2022-23.”
So far, Chelsea have only recouped £59 million in player sales this season, so will be forced to sell more in early summer to balance out their spend of over £500 million.
Chelsea‘s financial losses are a “significant problem” under new owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, according to Twomey.
He added: “The 2023 summer transfer window in England is expected to open in the second week of June, giving Chelsea around 20 days to finalise domestic sales that will help their books.”
A “significant clearout” is described as “inevitable,” with Mount and Gallagher two of the most likely candidates given their diminishing roles in the squad.
The price tag for Mount is still claimed to be £70 million, with Chelsea said to be “hoping to raise north of £100 million for Mount and Gallagher if they decide to sell both.”
However, that fee seems farfetched, with Football Insider‘s David Lynch writing: “Liverpool are hoping to use the midfielder’s perilous contract situation and Chelsea’s need to balance the books after heavy recent spending to strike a more palatable deal.”
Liverpool are unlikely to pay these high prices and, as the deadline draws closer, it will become harder for Chelsea to turn down a lower offer from the Reds.
It is a tactic that could well work in Liverpool’s favour.
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