Chelsea may sell Willian to fund spending spree

Chelsea are open to selling Willian to Barcelona to help fund their summer transfer business.

The Stamford Bridge-based club are in talks to sign Russia’s £27million midfielder Aleksandr Golovin, Juventus defender Daniele Rugani and Roma goalkeeper Alisson.

As has been the case in recent years, Chelsea will balance any signings with sales. Alisson will only be signed if Thibaut Courtois departs, while David Luiz could leave to make way for Rugani.

Chelsea want to sell Danny Drinkwater for more than £30million, but would also be prepared to cash in on Willian if Barcelona can get near their £60 million valuation.

Manchester United are also interested in Willian, but Chelsea would prefer not to sell to a rival unless they could get Anthony Martial from the Old Trafford club.

Willian’s contract has two years to run and this may be the last summer in which Chelsea are in a position to demand big money for him.

Willian, 29, is popular at Chelsea and a highly-valued player, despite the fact he fell out of favour with head coach Antonio Conte.

Celebrating Chelsea’s FA Cup victory, Willian posted a picture of himself and his team-mates on social media, but covered Conte with emojis. Willian is unlikely to feature for Chelsea if Conte stays, but the Italian is expected to be replaced by Maurizio Sarri.

Sarri has told Dries Mertens, who plays in Willian’s position, that he will try to take him from Napoli. But it is not clear whether Napoli would allow his sale, or whether Chelsea would sanction a bigmoney move for the 31-year-old.

Chelsea may prefer to bid for long-term target Christian Pulisic, who plays for Borussia Dortmund.