‘Will go’… Journalist reckons £80m Chelsea player will end up signing for Manchester City

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Chelsea may need to sell a few of their homegrown talents in order to balance the books.

The Blues are right up against it in terms of FFP restrictions, and one way to get around that is to sell their key academy products.

The likes of Conor Gallagher and Armando Broja have both been linked with moves away from Chelsea, and according to Martin Lipton, there’s another big academy product who could be out the door over the next 18 months.

Indeed, speaking on Last Word on Spurs, the journalist has been discussing Chelsea’s situation, and he reckons that Reece James could soon be on his way out the door, claiming that he thinks the right-back will end up moving to Manchester City as a replacement for Kyle Walker.

James could join Manchester City

Lipton spoke about the defender’s potential departure.

“If Chelsea identify a new player they really need and the only way to make those numbers add up is to sell Gallagher then it’s not inconceivable in the next week. It’s more likely in the summer. I think that within the next 18 months both Gallagher and James will have been sold by Chelsea and James will go to Man City as the replacement for Walker. The new owners have never seen James play well and if they can get £80m for him they will,” Lipton said.

No sentiment

If there’s one thing we’ve learnt about Chelsea under Todd Boehly, it’s that he has no time for sentiment.

James would, ideally be a Chelsea player for life, he’s an academy kid come good and he’s the current club captain.

However, as Lipton says, he’s not played well since the new owners have arrived due to his massive injury problems, and if the cash does come in from a team like City, the Blues may well let him go.

Sentiment at Chelsea didn’t save Mason Mount last summer, and James could soon find himself in the same boat.