Incoming Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino may not have full control over player sales this summer, journalist Paul Brown has claimed.
What's the latest Chelsea news with Pochettino?
The former Spurs boss looks set to take charge of Chelsea at the end of this season, following a campaign of chaos which has seen four different managers guide the Blues to a low 11th place in the league.
The squad needs urgent trimming down after multiple high-spending windows, and this may impact what the Argentine plans to do with the current options in the squad.
Mason Mount and Mateo Kovacic are amongst the players entering the final year of their contracts, and if the club receives offers for them, they could be sold even if Pochettino wants to keep the midfielders.
Speaking to Football FanCast, Brown stated that Pochettino may not have full control over sales given the desperate need to reduce the size of the squad.
"I'm honestly not sure how much control Pochettino is going to have over who leaves Chelsea," he stated.
"He could very well come in and draw up a list of players and say look, these guys probably don't really fit my style of play or my system, if the club wants to sell players you should be trying to sell these, that would make perfect, logical sense.
"Unfortunately, the world and his wife knows that Chelsea needs to sell players this summer."
Who could Chelsea sell this summer?
Mount and Kovacic are two obvious candidates to sell, given their contract situations and the teams interested in them, but there are many more parts of the squad that need replacing.
One of the two goalkeepers could leave, with David Raya and Andre Onana linked as replacements, whilst older players such as Kalidou Koulibaly and Raheem Sterling may be tougher to shift given their high wages.
Players out on loan such as Romelu Lukaku could also be sold to generate funds when they return to the club, and other inconsistent players such as Kai Havertz and Marc Cucurella may have uncertain futures at Stamford Bridge.
Hakim Ziyech was close to departing on loan in the January transfer window, and the Moroccan could be one of the first out the exit door in the summer, as the arrivals of Noni Madueke and Mykhailo Mudryk will have limited his minutes even further.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang looks certain to leave, and Chelsea will almost certainly have to take a loss on the striker, who has failed to deliver following his arrival from Barcelona. There are plenty of candidates for departure as Pochettino aims to get the squad back on track, and a lack of European football next season means a smaller cohort of players will be easier to manage.
