Rio Ferdinand, a former Manchester United defender, has predicted a mass departure of Chelsea players this summer as a result of the United Kingdom Government’s penalties against the club’s owner, Roman Abramovich.
Chelsea is in shambles as a result of Abramovich’s suspension, which prevents him from making the rapid sale he desired.
With the Russian billionaire, who is the club’s main source of cash, out of the picture, the Blues will be unable to negotiate new contracts and resolve the futures of players seeking raises or whose present contracts are coming to an end.
Manchester City and Real Madrid are already proclaiming the interest for the likes of Reece James and other top performers who City coach Pep Guardiola is thought to regard as long-term successor to Kyle Walker.
“If you go back to the players, that ambiguity leads to worry, panic, and not knowing is always the worst case scenario,” Ferdinand told BT Sport.
“There will be players who are nearing the end of their contracts waiting there.”
“That could be a driver for a mass exodus of players who are saying we are potentially losing our best players, we could’ve re-signed, but now they’ve gone. I can’t commit to this, I want three or five years of certainty rather than looking at this thinking, what if this goes to litigation over the next few years, where do we sit with it all.
“There are so many questions and it makes it difficult to really want to commit to a situation like that.”
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