Chelsea Earns Whopping £130m From Player Sales

The summer transfer window officially opens on Saturday but Chelsea are already flush with cash following their transfer dealings this year.

The defending Premier League champions have raked in £128.3 million so far in 2017 from the sale of just seven players - and the main sales haven't even started yet.

It was announced on Friday that 22-year-old Dutch defender Nathan Ake had been sold to Bournemouth for £20m, further boosting Chelsea's coffers ahead of what is expected to be a busy summer at Stamford Bridge.

It all started back in January, when megabucks Chinese Super League side Shanghai SIPG spent £60m on out-of-favour Brazilian playmaker Oscar, providing Chelsea with a refund on most of their summer expenditure.

The winter window also saw the sale of striker Patrick Bamford to Middlesbrough for a £6m fee, potentially rising to £10m if he fulfils certain targets for the Riverside club.

Bamford, 23, had clearly concluded that his chance was never going to come at Chelsea, having been sent out on loan six times in just five years.

And after Antonio Conte's side clinched the Premier League title in May, the manager wasted no time in trimming some of the fat from his enormous squad.

A number of players have been sold already and those deals will officially be ratified when the window opens on Saturday.

Back-up goalkeeper Asmir Begovic will follow Ake to Bournemouth, having sealed a £10m switch at the end of last season.

The unwanted Colombian winger Juan Cuadrado has made permanent his loan at Italian champions Juventus, who have paid £17.3m. The move was confirmed after a clause in his contract was triggered by their title win.

Another loan ranger, the Ghana midfielder Christian Atsu, sealed a move to Newcastle United in a deal worth £6.2m.

Incredibly, Atsu has been on Chelsea's books since 2013 but hasn't played a single game for the club, instead going out on five loans, the last of which was with the Magpies.

And with the confirmed sale of Ake, that now means Chelsea have brought in almost £130m so far this calendar year.

In addition, they will receive a fee from Liverpool for young striker Dominic Solanke, to be determined by a tribunal.

A number of players have also departed the club on free transfers this year, including John Obi Mikel to Tianjin, Branislav Ivanovic to Zenit Saint Petersburg and Alex Kiwomya to Doncaster Rovers.

In addition, former captain John Terry and young Scottish defender Alex Davey have been released to find another club after their contracts ran down.