Chelsea planning January sales: Blues ready to offload five players as Enzo Maresca sanctions winter exits

Ben Chilwell and Carney Chukuemeka have been tipped to lead a mini-exodus from Chelsea once the mid-season transfer window opens in a matter of days. BBC Sport notes that Chukwuemeka carries a £40 million ($50m) price tag, the full value of his release clause, however a loan could still happen if no club is willing to pay up. A loan is also a possibility for Cesare Casadei, with Feyenoord and Monza both named as suitors. Home-grown talent Harvey Vale is available for a permanent exit six months before his contract expires. Fellow youngster Alex Matos is the fifth who could go. No other first-team players are on the chopping block at this moment in time.

Shedding any of the five players mentioned would not hurt Chelsea. Chilwell was told he could go last summer and has been on the periphery all season, afforded just 45 minutes in the Carabao Cup against Barrow and not making the bench even once in the Premier League. Chukwuemeka has also been frozen out, making four appearances in the Conference League and getting nowhere near a Premier League game, with Casadei in a similar boat but Chelsea are not actively looking to permanently sell the Italian. Vale has enjoyed a strong season at Under-21 level but is ready for senior football that Chelsea cannot offer beyond recent European dead rubbers. Matos hasn't featured in a first-team matchday squad this season.

Maresca said of Chilwell and Chukwuemeka shortly before Christmas: "Probably they are the first [to say] that they want to leave because they train every day, because they want to play games and if they don't play games probably they are thinking of leaving. Each player is a bit different situation, so we're going to see if some of them are coming and knocking on the door to say 'I want to leave'. We will try to find a solution."

The transfer window opens on Wednesday, January 1, and runs for just over a month, giving clubs slightly more time to conduct transfer business because the last day in the month falls on a Friday. The window will close on February 3 at 11pm. Selling Chukwuemeka would be the most lucrative business Chelsea could pull off, but without a shop window for the midfielder in the first half of the season it seems unlikely.