Chelsea summer transfer activated after Fulham win as exit clause explained

Chelsea already have their first signing of the summer after beating Fulham.

Chelsea picked up a huge win over Fulham on Sunday to boost their Champions League hopes, and they also secured a transfer in the process. The Blues have been on a difficult run of form of late, leaving their hopes of finishing in the top five hanging by a thread, now fighting with four other clubs for the three Champions League spots that are in play.

It feels like an age ago that the Blues were talking about potential title hopes amid their excellent start to the season, but Champions League qualification would represent significant progress this season.

A win over Fulham will surely help them achieve that, with Tyrique George sparking the comeback that Pedro Neto finished off in stoppage time with an excellent strike from outside the box.

Enzo Maresca will hoping the late goal sparks some momentum for his struggling side as they look to find their feet again heading into five Premier League games that will define their season, also having the Conference League semi-finals to negotiate.

But the Neto goal did not only potentially spark some much-needed momentum, also securing a transfer for Chelsea, with loan star Jadon Sancho now having a permanent deal triggered.

Ben Jacobs told Goal: “Chelsea’s win over Fulham means an obligation to buy Jadon Sancho of up to £25m [€29m] has now kicked in. It is triggered providing Chelsea finish above 15th, which is now mathematically guaranteed to be the case.” Chelsea can override the obligation by paying Man Utd a fee of £5m [€6m]. Decision whether to keep Sancho will be taken at the end of the season.”

Given Chelsea knew they were going to finish above 15th, it’s likely they were always planning to keep the winger, not likely considering paying the £5million plus the loan fee, which would make for a very expensive loan deal. Sancho has also been a regular under Maresca, whether it be starting or off the bench, featuring in 25 games this season, scoring three times and providing a very respectable 10 assists.

Then again, Maresca has recently said: “The only thing we said to Jadon, and all our offensive players, is that we need more, in terms of numbers, goals and assists. So Jadon, in the last games, is doing better. But we need goal and assist from Nico [Jackson], from Cole [Palmer], from Noni [Madueke], from Pedro [Neto], from Enzo [Fernandez], who is doing well, from the ones that arrive in the opposite box…”

Neto on Chelsea breaking through
Game-winner Pedro Neto will be delighted to have produced after a difficult run from the Chelsea forwards as a collective. Speaking after the game, he told the club website: “It could be a good part of the season for us,’ said the winger. ‘We showed the character. To be honest I have no words to describe what this team has done. It’s not easy to spend all season in the top four and then be out of it before this game, but the character the team showed is really good. We have to think about Everton next week and winning against them too.

“The belief has always been there, even in the bad moments. Everyone has bad moments and what you have to do is continue like this. Sometimes the game is not about the quality, it is about the spirit, and that is what we showed today, the mentality we have and the group that we are, and I think that we deserved it today.”