Here are three terrible contracts notorious spenders Chelsea must offload in the summer 2025 transfer market. All wage details come via FBRef.com.
LB Marc Cucurella
Even with the caveat that it helped facilitate the move for starting center back Levi Colwill, the Marc Cucurella transfer has to be one of the worst in Premier League history as a 65 million euro acquisition for a below-average left back who is more known for memes and controversy rather than his thoroughly underwhelming play on the pitch.
Chelsea haven’t had a competent left back in a long time, and Cucurella is only starting because Ben Chilwill could never get healthy. Although the best ability is availability, as many like to say now, Cucurella pretty much only has that going for him.
At 9.1 million pounds per season, Cucurella is one of the biggest rip-offs in the Premier League on a wage basis, too, as Chelsea could easily sign a random player from any top five league and pay them a fraction of that salary to get similar production.
FW Raheem Sterling
Currently on loan at Arsenal, of all places, Raheem Sterling has done very little to rehabilitate his value and obviously has no future at Stamford Bridge after being another expensive and unmitigated bust since joining Chelsea.
Sterling is under contract through the 2026/27 season, and if Chelsea can somehow find a buyer for the overpriced and declining attacker, preferably one from Saudi Arabia, then they will take that money all the way to the bank.
Chelsea currently have at least five forwards who can offer more than Sterling, and yet only Christopher Nkunku, a former Ballon d’Or candidate, makes more money than Sterling’s 8.4 million pounds.
As I like to say, if a player costs more in millions of pounds per year than the goals they score per year, they have to be near the top of your priority list of players to transfer out of the club.
LB Ben Chilwell
As tempting as it was to place injury-prone captain Reece James, the clubs highest-paid player right now, on this list, it would be a serious oversight not to discuss Ben Chilwell, another under-performing left back who, like James, simply can’t get on the field.
Chilwell is one of the better Premier League left backs when healthy, but we haven’t actually seen him at that level since leaving Leicester City to join Chelsea in 2020, save for perhaps his first season at Stamford Bridge.
Now, Chilwell is on loan at Crystal Palace and still not getting games. He has no starts and just three bench appearances for the Eagles. With wages exceeding 10 million pounds per season, Chilwell will be extremely difficult to move, and even Saudi Pro League clubs won’t want a mediocre, injury-prone left back nearing the age of 30.
