Chelsea striker may be offloaded this summer

Chelsea face a season without European football next term after their 12th place finish in the Premier League. 

In their final game of the campaign, the Blues were held to a 1-1 draw by Newcastle United at Stamford Bright in what was Frank Lampard’s final match as caretaker boss.

The Englishman lost six of his nine matches in charge of the club, and has since been succeeded by former Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino who was named as head coach on Monday.

The Argentinian signed a two-year deal with the west London club, and one of his first tasks will be to reduce their bloated squad.

Owner Todd Boehly has spent more than £500 million on 16 new signings since taking charge of Chelsea last summer, leaving Pochettino to inherit a huge playing squad.

Some players at the club are therefore at risk of being offloaded by the Blues during the upcoming transfer window, and it appears that one of their forward could be the first to leave.

According to Sky Sports, Chelsea striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will hold talks with the club surrounding his future.

The report claims that Aubameyang is not in Pochettino’s plans for next season, and the club will therefore look to sell him in the summer before his contract expires.

Aubameyang will be one of the first players that Chelsea will try to offload it the summer.

The Gabon international’s contract is set to expire in a year, which will encourage those in charge of the Blues to find him a move this summer rather than losing him for free next year.

The 33-year-old joined Chelsea from Barcelona in a £10m switch in September but has failed to impress in west London.

After his very successful spell at Arsenal between 2018 and 2021 and a prolific, albeit brief, stint in Barcelona, Chelsea fans had high hopes for the Gabon striker, but he has struggled to meet their demands this term.

Aubameyang has only scored one goal in 15 Premier League appearances for the club and was left out of their squad for the knockout stages of the Champions League, despite scoring twice in six group stage appearances.

Teams from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the USA are reported to be interested in signing the ex-Gunners man, who netted 92 goals in 163 appearances across all competitions for Arsenal.