Chelsea ended their 2023/24 campaign with a win on Sunday as they secured all three points with a 2-1 victory over Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge.

Moises Caicedo scored an outrageous goal from the halfway line to open the scoring in the first half before Raheem Sterling struck just after the break, with an own goal from Benoit Badiashile serving as merely a consolation for the away side.

The Blues finished sixth in the Premier League table, three points ahead of Newcastle United, to ensure that they will return to European Football next season, after a year away from it.

With the campaign wrapped up and finished for the London giants, Mauricio Pochettino and Todd Boehly can now turn their attention to the upcoming transfer window.

The Chelsea chiefs may look to improve the playing squad over the coming weeks and months to prepare them to improve on their sixth-placed finish in the Premier League, whilst also strengthening the group to be able to compete in Europe.

With this in mind, Pochettino could brutally ditch one of Sunday’s scorers – Sterling – by securing a deal to sign one of the Club‘s reported transfer targets.

Chelsea’s interest in Championship star

Earlier this month, TEAMtalk named Chelsea as one of a number of teams interested in a possible swoop to sign Leeds United star Crysencio Summerville.

The report claimed that several sides are considering an approach to sign the impressive Dutch winger in the upcoming summer window to bolster their respective attacks.

It stated that Newcastle United and Aston Villa have both been sending scouts to watch the former Feyenoord youngster in action, whilst there is genuine interest from the Blues.

Meanwhile, incoming Liverpool boss Arne Slot, who is set to arrive from Summerville’s former Club Feyenoord, has added the 22-year-old magician to his list of targets ahead of his first transfer window at Anfield.

TEAMtalk stated that Leeds have placed an asking price of up to £40m on the forward’s head but that could be reduced to around £35m if they fail to earn promotion to the Premier League.

Daniel Farke’s side have a Championship play-off final clash with Southampton to come at Wembley on Sunday and the interested clubs may be rooting for the Saints to come out on top, as it looks as though it would save them around £5m on Summerville should they pursue a deal for him.

Bringing the right-footed dynamo to Stamford Bridge could, then, free up space in the squad for Chelsea to ruthlessly sell Sterling ahead of next season.

Why Chelsea should cash in on Raheem Sterling

Per Capology, the former Manchester City star is the highest earner in the squad on a staggering wage of £325k-per-week – £75k-per-week more than Reece James in second on the list.

Cole Palmer is said to be on £75k-per-week and Noni Madueke is on just £50k-per-week, with Sterling topping the charts for the Blues this season.

However, the winger’s performances in the Premier League during the 2023/24 campaign do not suggest that the Club got value for money on that £325k-per-week.

He ranked third in the squad for goals (eight), fifth for assists (four), and ninth for key passes per game (1.0), which shows that he did not lead the way for Pochettino in any key attacking metric.

In fact, as you can see in the table above, Sterling underperformed in front of goals with eight strikes from 9.42 xG and only three players were more wasteful than him.

This shows that the attacker has been below-par as a finisher for Chelsea in the division, as an average player would have been expected to score at least one more goal based on the quality of chances that were created for him by his teammates.

Sterling also ended the season with just four assists to his name, which does not suggest that he made him up for his lacklustre finishing with outstanding creativity.

In March, Chelsea were reportedly considering offloading the 29-year-old dud in the summer, and Pochettino must press ahead with those plans by signing Summerville to replace him.

Why Chelsea should sign Crysencio Summerville

Whilst Sterling turns 30 this year and is heading towards the later stages of his career, the Leeds star is a bright young talent who could be a future star for many years to come at Elland Road.

Chelsea benefitted from taking a chance on a young player last summer when they snapped up 21-year-old Cole Palmer from Manchester City, who went on to score 22 goals and provide 11 assists in the Premier League.

Summerville, 22, won the Championship Player of the Season award last month and his performances this season suggest that he has the potential to be a big player for the Blues if he can make the step up to the top-flight.

As you can see in the table above, the Dutch award-winner enjoyed a similar season to Palmer, albeit at a lower level, with his ability to score and create goals at an exceptional rate.

The Whites wizard, who was lauded as “relentless” in his movement off the ball by analyst Ben Mattinson, ranked within the top 1% of attacking midfielders and wingers in the Championship for shot-creating actions per 90 (6.10), the top 12% for non-penalty goals per 90 (0.39), and the top 4% for Expected Assisted Goals per 90 (0.30).

This shows that the young star was one of the best attackers in the division at scoring goals from open play and creating high-quality chances for his teammates.

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Chelsea star who had more touches than Palmer must be sold this summer

The Blues should ruthlessly cash in on the defender in the upcoming summer transfer window.

Therefore, Chelsea could potentially improve their squad by landing the exciting talent, who outscored his xG by 2.49, to replace the underperforming and highly-paid Sterling this summer, if Pochettino could help him to translate his outstanding Championship form over to the Premier League.