Chelsea star agrees personal terms to leave

We are barely even halfway through it, and this summer is shaping up to be an excellent one for Chelsea.

On the pitch, Enzo Maresca’s men have made it to the final of the Club World Cup and have done so with relative ease while playing some lovely football.

Then, off the pitch, the Blues have been as busy as they usually are this time of year, bringing in some seriously exciting talents like Joao Pedro, Jamie Gittens and Liam Delap.

However, it’s not all about the incomings as the club now looks ready to make several sales, including one star who, like Noni Madueke, has already agreed to personal terms.

Chelsea look to sell stars this summer

With Chelsea’s squad being notoriously sizable, it would make sense to see the club sell several unwanted players this summer, such as João Félix.

The Portuguese international spent half of last season on loan with AC Milan, despite only moving to Stamford Bridge in the summer, and based on reports from earlier this month, it looks like he could be on his way to Benfica.

Likewise, Ben Chilwell, who once cost the club around £50m and was seen as England’s next great left-back, is almost certainly set to depart, although as his short-term loan to Crystal Palace last season was unspectacular – to say the least – it’s unclear who, if anyone will be willing to sign him on a permanent deal.

It’s a similar problem with Raheem Sterling, who was seriously poor for Arsenal last season, and with his mammoth wages, the board may have to buy him out of his contract to see him leave.

Fortunately, it looks like there will be no such problem with Madueke, who has agreed to join the Gunners and has already been the subject of a £50m bid from them.

The dynamic winger is not the only player to have agreed personal terms with another club, as goalkeeper Đorđe Petrović has done the same, which is excellent news, as he’s far more dispensable than the Englishman.

Why Petrović is more dispensable than Madueke

According to a recent report from journalist Graeme Bailey, Petrović has agreed personal terms with Bournemouth and, as things stand, Chelsea are in talks to sell him for a fee of around £25m.

Now, while the Serbian keeper is following in Madueke’s footsteps by agreeing to join a fellow Premier League side, we’d argue that fans he is the far more dispensable player, and there are a few reasons why.

The first is that he didn’t even play for the team last season.

Instead of being a part of the first Blue side to qualify for the Champions League in a few years, the 25-year-old was on loan with Ligue 1 side Strasbourg, which makes it hard to argue his permanent departure would be much of a blow at all.

Second, when he did play for the club two seasons ago, he was never more than okay between the sticks, and if you take a look at his underlying numbers from that campaign, they’re actually really quite poor.

According to FBref, he sat in the top 37% of keepers for clean sheet percentage, the bottom 42% for crosses stopped, the bottom 31% for save percentage, the bottom 20% for defensive actions outside of his penalty area, and more, all per 90.

In contrast, the Arsenal-bound Madueke does have some seriously standout metrics, such as being in the top 1% of attacking midfielders and wingers in Europe’s top five leagues for progressive carries and the top 4% for touches in the opposition’s penalty area, also per 90.

Ultimately, while both sales look good for Chelsea, and will help balance the books, the club are going to miss Madueke far more than Petrović.

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