Chelsea could allow as many as six players to leave in the remaining three weeks of the January transfer window, at least in part motivated by raising funds for a potential Marc Guehi pursuit.

Guehi links have emerged in the wake of injuries to Benoit Badiashile and Wesley Fofana, highlighting a need for further defensive strengthening.

Guehi, sold by Chelsea to Crystal Palace for £18m in the summer of 2021, was being valued at £70m last summer when the England centre-back was the subject of multiple Newcastle United bids. Chelsea are believed to have a sell-on clause in any future deal for Guehi.

Chelsea have also been linked with a shock Trevoh Chalobah U-turn, half a season after completely freezing out the home-grown defender and loaning him to Palace.

According to the Telegraph, the Blues are insistent that any January recruitment is not tantamount to panic buying, but they want to be ready to move for the right opportunities.

Clearing out a bloated squad has been a requirement for some time, as Chelsea simply have too many first-team players for Enzo Maresca to use regularly. It has been well established that Ben Chilwell, Carney Chukwuemeka, Cesare Casadei and even summer signing Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall are available for transfer. The club would want around £60m for Chukwuemeka and Casadei alone, while Dewsbury-Hall cost £30m from Leicester City just six months ago.

The two new and therefore more surprising names quoted by the Telegraph that Chelsea would be willing to cut loose this month are Axel Disasi and Christopher Nkunku.

Disasi has often captained the team, albeit a rotated one, in the Conference League and Carabao Cup this season. But the £38.5m Frenchman has hardly featured in the Premier League and has been identified as someone who doesn’t fit with Maresca’s style of play.

Nkunku was signed for £52m following a prolific spell at RB Leipzig, only for injuries to wreck his first season with Chelsea. He has featured considerably more under Maresca than the others named here, yet still primarily as a substitute when it comes to the bread and butter of the Premier League.