Chelsea are under intense pressure to improve their Premier League winning side ahead of a title defence and return to Champions League action next season, where the current lack of squad depth could be exposed.

Antonio Conte’s side are yet to make any major additions in the market but are linked with a wealth of top names, whilst significant departures from Stamford Bridge seem likely with Diego Costa being informed he’s surplus to requirements and Nemanja Matic closing in on a reunion with Jose Mourinho.

The Serbian midfielder was a bit-part member of Chelsea’s side last season and isn’t fancied by Conte to be a long-term partner to N’Golo Kante and the reality is a sale to Manchester United shouldn’t ring alarm bells as he’s hardly the sort of signing that can significantly strengthen a direct rival.

Chelsea have had no problem approving sales to Premier League rivals in recent history, with the likes of Romelu Lukaku, Petr Cech and Juan Mata all remaining within English football after leaving the Blues, but the deals Chelsea negotiate show they’re the true masters of negotiations.

The reported fee for Matic is a whopping £40m, which would give the Blues a £19m profit on the figure they paid Benfica in 2014, whilst Chelsea got £28m for Lukaku the same year and received £10m from the sale of veteran goalkeeper Cech.

Lukaku’s price may have raised significantly in the years since but Chelsea’s sales continue to bring in a wealth of funds, with deals to China in recent years boosting the club’s finances significantly. In total, Chelsea have made over £80m from selling the likes of Ramires and Oscar to the Far East.

What’s phenomenal for Chelsea is the fact that the players the Blues offload are always deemed surplus to requirements and are unwanted, which usually leads to lesser fees in the market. However, Chelsea have ensured that’s not the case- selling Andre Schurrle for around £27m, Mohamed Salah for £13m and Daniel Sturridge for a similar price.

Whilst it could be argued that the aforementioned trio could have been successful at Stamford Bridge with the right guidance, the fact of the matter is Chelsea often avoid losing a return on their investment by negotiating expensive sales.

The deal taking Matic to Manchester United is just the latest in a long line of significant sales from the Blues and, crucially, it boosts Antonio Conte’s transfer kitty ahead of his upcoming flurry into the market- where the likes of Alex Sandro, Lukaku, Virgil Van Dijk and Tiemoue Bakayoko are said to be on his wish-list.