Whatever critics may say about Roman Abramovich's Chelsea reign, their rather incredible record of selling players for whom they have no real need (for astonishing amounts of money) has got to be applauded.
David Luiz's £50 million move to PSG is the headline grabber but even the likes of Mata, Lukaku, Schurrle and De Bruyne were sold for a significant amount more than many would have expected. Granted, Lukaku and De Bruyne are now worth significantly more but Chelsea's strategy of ensuring their players maintain a resale value has gone quite some way to offsetting some of their owner's loses over the past decade.
Now you can add the ludicrous amount of money that Jiangsu Suning have paid for Ramires to take him to the Chinese Super League. The Brazilian midfielder joined Chelsea for somewhere in the region of £17 million and, after allowing him to become little more than a squad player this season, they've somehow managed to sell the 28 year old for £25 million.
Ramires has today joined Chinese Super League club Jiangsu Suning... https://t.co/mYLXazELTX pic.twitter.com/R7k5SLGux5
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) January 27, 2016
And on the day that one Brazilian leaves another one arrives in a deal that makes absolutely no sense and yet still somehow seems to be a no brainer. Alexandre Pato has arrived in London to complete a six month loan deal that will see him earn a relatively meagre sum of somewhere in the region of £30,000 a week.
Chelsea have the option to make that deal permanent in the summer and although Corinthians are desperate to get him off their wage bill, the deal has been structured in such a way that he has actually agreed to extend his contract with the Brazil club so that they will earn a fee rather than lose him on a free transfer in the summer.
The problem with that of course is that he's likely to battle with Loic Remy to be Diego Costa's understudy and he could very well end up back in Brazil this summer with a permanent move back to Europe no closer to a reality. Nonetheless, it's a no-lose situation for Chelsea who are also celebrating the fact that Chinese clubs are more than willing to throw away perfectly good money on average footballers.
