Chelsea could be about to admit to making a mistake in the transfer market, with the return of an academy graduate potentially on the cards.
In the past few transfer windows, Chelsea have sold multiple players to have come through the academy, with Mason Mount, Marc Guehi, Fikayo Tomori, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Callum Hudson-Odoi - among plenty of others - departing Stamford Bridge.
The hierarchy could look to atone for one of those sales in the upcoming windows, after realising that the academy graduate's replacement certainly didn't live up to expectations.
Indeed, Chelsea sold Tammy Abraham to Roma for £34m in 2021, with then-manager Thomas Tuchel desperate to bring Romelu Lukaku to the club. That move didn't work out, however, with the Belgian now playing alongside Abraham in Italy on loan.
Roma are keen on making that move permanent, though, according to Italian outlet Calciomercato, and could offer Abraham in exchange for Lukaku at the end of the season. Chelsea reportedly want just £37m for the 30-year-old, despite signing him for £100m just two seasons ago.
But Chelsea could be about to admit selling Abraham to sign Lukaku was a mistake, with the Gillarossi willing to test their resolve with a swap deal.
Abraham scored 21 Premier League goals over the course of his two seasons in the first-team at Chelsea, before moving onto Roma where he linked up with Jose Mourinho.
While in Italy, the 26-year-old started life strongly, bagging 27 goals in his debut season. He struggled more so last term, though, before picking up an ACL injury on the final day of the campaign.
Lukaku, meanwhile, failed to settle in his second spell at Chelsea, lasting just a season before being loaned out to Inter Milan. While he did manage 15 goals for the Blues in 2021/22, a falling out with Tuchel didn't help matters, while the change in ownership signalled a new direction for the club, too.
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Chelsea are reportedly seeking a £500 million loan in order to continue buying players, despite an outlay of around £1 billion over the past year.
And Blues manager Mauricio Pochettino has revealed that the west London club have "already started to work" on January signings.
Bringing in a striker is understood to be a priority and Napoli's Victor Osimhen is one potential target, with the Nigerian's future in Italy up in the air after he was bizarrely mocked by his own club on social media recently.
