EPL: Many Chelsea players will abandon Stamford Bridge – Rio Ferdinand

Former Manchester United defender, Rio Ferdinand has predicted a mass exodus of players from Chelsea this summer following the sanction meted out at the club’s owner, Roman Abramovich by the United Kingdom Government.

Chelsea are in a state of paralysis after the sanction on Abramovich who is now barred from making the quickfire sale he desired.

With the Russian billionaire, who is the main source of revenue removed from the picture at Stamford Bridge, the Blues won’t be able to negotiate new contracts and resolve the futures of players who are seeking pay rises, or have come to the end of their current deals.

Manchester City and Real Madrid are already declaring the interest for the likes of Reece James and other top stars who City boss Pep Guardiola is said to view as long-term successor to Kyle Walker.

“If you take it back to the players, that uncertainty leads to anxiety, fear and not knowing is always the worst case scenario and that’s where these players sit,” Ferdinand told BT Sport.

“There will be players sitting there who are coming out of contracts.

“That could be a driver for a mass exodus of players who are saying we are potentially losing our best players, we could’ve re-signed, but now they’ve gone. I can’t commit to this, I want three or five years of certainty rather than looking at this thinking, what if this goes to litigation over the next few years, where do we sit with it all.

“There are so many questions and it makes it difficult to really want to commit to a situation like that.”