Chelsea Q&A: Are Blues set for a clearout?

Our Chelsea reporter Nizaar Kinsella has been following the Blues in the United States for the Club World Cup and we have put your questions to him following the Blues' successful campaign.

Here is the first of a three-part Q&A...

Richard asked: How do we quickly get rid of the deadwood in the squad after the tournament and before next season begins?

Nizaar: Chelsea are pretty happy with how the player sales plans have begun.

They will raise almost £80m when Noni Madueke completes his £52m move to Arsenal and Djordje Petrovic finalises his £25m switch to Bournemouth.

They may sell a few players that were in Enzo Maresca's first-team squad that travelled to the United States, with Christopher Nkunku, Nicolas Jackson and Trevoh Chalobah among those who could be allowed to leave for the right offer. But equally, those kinds of players could end up staying.

There is also still the so-called 'bomb squad' remaining, with Joao Felix, Raheem Sterling, Ben Chilwell and a half-dozen others back training at Cobham. They will not be easy to sell but should have minimal impact on the players in the first team.

They can help improve Chelsea's bottom line. However, some may be hard to offload and they look a bit like distressed assets.

Clubs interested in buying them will be looking for a good deal given they clearly have no future at Stamford Bridge.

Dan asked: Does Chelsea's win mean that they automatically qualify for the next CWC as defending champions?

Nizaar: No, that is not how it works any more either in the Club World Cup or World Cup - Fifa's two tournaments. Chelsea must either qualify through winning the Champions League or Europa League over the next three seasons, or build a very good coefficient.

Return to this page later on Tuesday for part two, which will look at the goalkeeping situation at Stamford Bridge.