Chelsea have more than a dozen of players who are on the final year of their contracts at Stamford Bridge, as the club could be under mounting pressure to sell this summer.
So far, the Blues have yet to make any signing, which is quite a surprise considering how active they were in the transfer market just a year ago.
Aside from the lack of signing, Chelsea are also facing some other issues, particularly in trimming their squad.
They have already sold a few players, obviously, such as Fikayo Tomori, Olivier Giroud, and a number of their former academy stars.
But Chelsea are still at risk of losing a lot of first-team players on a free transfer next summer.
Here are the 14 Chelsea players whose contracts will expire in 2022 (according to Transfermarkt).
- Antonio Rudiger
- Andreas Christensen
- Thiago Silva
- Tiemoue Bakayoko
- Emerson Palmieri
- Cesar Azpilicueta
- Michy Batshuayi
- Davide Zappacosta
- Lewis Baker
- Danny Drinkwater
- Matt Miazga
- Baba Rahman
- Jake Clarke-Salter
- Charly Musonda Jr.
Silva is, of course, an exceptional case, given the decision to extend his contract only for another year was a sensible option given his age.
Chelsea will likely offer new contracts to some of these players as well, such as Christensen, Rudiger, and Azpilicueta, who played important roles under Thomas Tuchel last season.
But the club seems to be in a situation where they will have to try to sell the rest of the players in this list in this transfer window or lose them as free agents in 12 months.
A few of them, including Miazga and Bakayoko, have even spoken about their desires to leave.
Most of these players are currently in pre-season under Tuchel, who said he will give them an opportunity to impress and perhaps secure their spot in the first-team squad.
So there is still a possibility that Tuchel might want to include some of these players in his squad for the upcoming season.
Receive a digest of our best Chelsea content each week direct to your mailbox
