Chelsea files: Blues raking in small fortune from Strasbourg sales but Champions League absence costing pretty penny

THE £125m sale of Enzo Fernandez stole all the headlines on transfer deadline day, but Chelsea were also plugging away with business that could be far more lucrative in the long term. The term ‘loan army‘ has long been closely associated with the Blues since the days of Roman Abramovich, and Chelsea chiefs were desperately trying to find loan exits for many of their promising young players. Chelsea’s moved on Robert Sanchez in the last minute as it became clear that they needed a new goalkeeper Credit: Getty Enzo Fernandez secured his move to Man City on deadline day Credit: PA The idea of the ‘loan army’ is to give promising young players, who are not yet deemed good enough for the first team but too good for ‘CNG’ or the academy, a chance to develop elsewhere so that they can either be integrated into Xabi Alonso‘s plans, or sold on at a good price. Recent examples of this include the likes of Trevoh Chalobah and Tyrique George, who were sold in this window for a combined fee of over £50m, and cost Chelsea nothing but wages. Sign up for the Football newsletter Thank you! The Chelsea Blueprint on YouTube Calling all Chelsea fans - we have a brand new YouTube channel! In fact, Chelsea currently have so many players out on loan, that you can make a fairly convincing XI out of them, that could probably compete at least in the Championship as it is – and the Chelsea Files team have pulled it together. GK – Robert Sanchez – ComoCB – Axel Disasi – Crystal PalaceCB – Mamadou Sarr – Real SociedadCB – Benoit Badiashile – NapoliRM – Ryan Kavuma-McQueen – PortsmouthCM – Dario Essugo – Hull CityCM – Reggie Walsh – Wigan AthleticLM – Mykhailo Mudryk – SpursAM – Jesse Derry – Sporting CPST – Shim Mheuka – CelticST – Dastan Satpayev – Burnley Bench: Filip Jorgensen (Strasbourg), Genesis Antwi (Strasbourg), Landon Emenalo (Celtic), Honest Anahor (Crystal Palace), Caleb Wiley (Preston), Ishe Samuels-Smith (Notts County), Harrison Murray-Campbell (KV Kortrijk), Alejandro Garnacho (Aston Villa). Some of these players are those who are deemed surplus to requirements at Chelsea, but the club perhaps couldn’t get a suitable fee for them in this window – the likes of Sanchez, Disasi, and Badiashile. SUN VEGAS WELCOME OFFER: GET UP TO £100 BONUS Mykhailo Mudryk secured a surprise loan to Chelsea’s sworn rivals Tottenham Credit: Getty Chelsea sold Nicolas Jackson to Villa this summer for a fee in the region of £65million Credit: Getty However the most interesting ones to watch will be those who could have excellent loan campaigns, and come back to either be stars of the future at Stamford Bridge, like Reece James, Levi Colwill and Josh Acheampong – or they could have good seasons and be sold for a profit. Those most highly thought of are the likes of Ryan Kavuma-McQueen, who has already been impressing for Portsmouth, Jesse Derry who has had some good moments for Sporting, and Shim Mheuka, who made his debut for Celtic and looked sharp in the 15 minutes he got to play, despite signing on deadline day. Most read in Sport A keen eye though should also be kept on those on loan who have a buy option in their deals – the likes of Mykhailo Mudryk COULD bag Chelsea as much as a cool £75m if Spurs are impressed by him, while Badiashile could earn Chelsea £23m if he is good for Napoli. This is the real secret to why Chelsea are always lauded as the best selling club in the transfer window, and how Cobham has made them so much money over the years. Those mentioned above are largely the young stars of last seasons PL2 table-topping side, formerly known as the Chelsea under-21’s and now known as ‘CNG’. But as ever with Chelsea, it is a case of out with the old and in with the new, and the new generation seem to play just like the first team – thrilling up front and questionable at the back. CNG played West Ham‘s u21 setup on Monday, and found themselves 3-0 down at half-time thanks to a Josh Landers hat-trick. They were utterly dominated by Landers and the Hammers. But whatever Harry Hudson, who has been criticised by some fans over the legitimacy of his position, said at half-time clearly got a reaction out of the boys. Second-half goals from Harrison Bettoni, a screamer from Lewi Richards, and a finish from Sol Gordon saw the young blues level with half an hour to go, but a fourth from Landers gave West Ham the advantage again with 10 to go. Typically, as Xabi Alonso’s side also have so far, CNG found a way to win, thanks to two late goals – a penalty scored by Reggie Watson and a fine finish by striker Chizzy Ezenwata too. Chelsea won the nine-goal thriller 5-4, and now sit in mid-table after losing their first game of the season 2-1 to Bournemouth. Rob on the go ROBERT Sanchez clearly had plenty of notice that his time as Chelsea No 1 – and probably at the club – was over. Sanchez had been Chelsea’s first choice goalkeeper until that game against Fulham on opening day Credit: Getty Sanchez and his family were seen out together visiting a farm in Surrey on Sunday morning, a few hours before the Blues kicked off against Brighton. Less than three days later, the Spaniard, and presumably his wife and two kids, were heading for a year in Como with former Blues midfielder Cesc Fabregas. So Sanchez went from being Chelsea’s first-choice goalkeeper on Monday August 24 to surplus to requirements on September 1. He may have noted with a wry smile how his replacement, Emi Martinez, played pretty well on his debut against Brighton yet still picked the ball out of the net three times – thanks to the Blues’ dodgy defence. The new football fan ANNOYING things about modern football, part 3764: the vocal fan above the Stamford Bridge press box who seems obsessed with new set-piece coach Austin MacPhee. When Chelsea took an early lead through Romeo Lavia after a corner, a fan, in what sounded like an American accent, shouted out, “That’s all you, Austin. That’s why you get the big money.” The support for the former Aston Villa dead-ball guru continued throughout the game, at attacking and defensive set-pieces. It was hard to tell whether the person responsible was being entirely sincere or taking the mick a bit (or a lot). But it stopped being funny pretty quickly. Europe and Chelsea HOW much has failure to qualify for the Champions League cost Chelsea? Chelsea won’t be in Europe this season Credit: Getty We know a bit more now after Uefa confirmed payouts for this year’s competition. Just for reaching the league stage, the Blues would have earned £49.8m, even if they lost every game. Last season, Chelsea earned £79.8m of prize money for making it to the last 16. Add in five lots of home gate receipts and performance-related sponsorship bonuses, and you reach the £100m mark. It is a lot of income to lose from your bottom line. The long-awaited front-of-shirt sponsorship deal will make up some of the gap. The agreement with Circle is reckoned by some to be worth £50m. But if the short-term shirt deal with IFS from February to the end of last season was worth as much as Chelsea claimed, they still have a big hole in their 2026/7 revenues. Hosting four Shakhtar Donetsk “home” games at Stamford Bridge will also bring in some cash. But getting Chelsea themselves back in Uefa’s top-tier competition feels like a minimum requirement for this campaign. The Blueco deal IT seems BlueCo’s first batch of players that they invested in for Strasbourg have matured and been sold on – and made an awful lot of revenue. Emanuel Emegha is a Blueco success story Credit: AFP £156 MILLION of revenue, in fact, and over £110 million in profits. Diego Moreira – £43m (£41.3m profit)Valentin Barco – £34m (£25.5m profit)Guela Doue – £32m (£24m profit)Julio Enciso – £26m (£10m profit)Emanuel Emegha – £21m (£10m profit) Total revenue – £110.8m While Strasbourg fans inevitably remain furious at the morality of how their club is treated, it’s impossible to argue that from a business perspective, or a money-making perspective at least, it’s not paying off. Comment now