Chelsea will consider letting up to four players leave in the January transfer window as they look to raise funds for West Ham’s Declan Rice, according to talkSPORT journalist Alex Crook.

The Hammers could demand up to £80m for the England international and that means the Blues will need to find the money through sales. Crook says the club have already identified some potential outgoings:

“Before Chelsea can make their move for Declan Rice, who is their No.1 target, pretty much their only target – they need to get players off the books. Danny Drinkwater, Fikayo Tomori, Marcos Alonso – three big names that they want to sell. Willy Caballero, too, isn’t particularly happy with his place in the goalkeeping pecking order.”

Alonso’s departure isn’t a surprise, with the Spaniard having not made an appearance since his terrible performance against West Brom earlier this season. Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid are thought to be among the left-back’s main suitors.

Chelsea have also been trying to sell Drinkwater for a while, and there is now some hope that he’ll leave this month with reports in Germany claiming that there could be interest from some Bundesliga clubs.

In terms of Caballero, the Argentine is now effectively the third-choice goalkeeper so he could be offloaded without too many issues, unless the Blues anticipate Kepa Arrizabalaga leaving this month as well.

The Tomori situation is more surprising. Most speculation has been about a loan exit but Crook is suggesting a permanent departure could be on the cards