Chelsea have reportedly established a specific course of action with regards to the future of Jadon Sancho.
The England international is currently on a season-long loan from Manchester United, Chelsea having the option to push through a permanent deal for a fee in the region of £25m.
However, Sancho contributing just two goals and four assists from 23 Premier League appearances has led to doubt emerging over whether that scenario will materialise.
As per widespread reports, Chelsea can pay United a penalty of £5m to send the 24-year-old back to Old Trafford should they wish to back out of their previous agreement.
Unless Sancho improves his output during the closing two weeks of the campaign, that appears to be a plausible conclusion to what has been a mixed stay at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea put plan in place?
Nevertheless, according to Football Insider, Chelsea are giving serious consideration to still pushing through with the signing of Sancho.
The report suggests that club officials see the value of acquiring Sancho’s services for £25m and them facilitating an immediate sale themselves.
Chelsea would presumably want to ensure that they recoup the £25m that they are in line to spend, although anything above £20m would represent a profit when considering that they would lose £5m without pushing through a deal.
While Sancho is said to be content with life in West London, it was recently claimed that he craves another stint at former club Borussia Dortmund.
Last season, he got his career back on track by helping the Bundesliga giants reach the Champions League final, only for terms not agreed for a permanent switch.
With Chelsea holding a strong relationship with Dortmund through recent deals involving Ian Maatsen and Carney Chukwuemeka, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that they would not facilitate a third period at the Westfalenstadion for Sancho.
Boehly, Clearlake working with business head
Some many question whether it is worth Chelsea signing Sancho if they have no intention of using him next season, but Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital will do what is necessarily to earn any extra leeway with the regulations.
They may see the benefit of allowing Dortmund to sign Sancho for a set loan fee if it sees them make a profit from an amortisation perspective.
That approach was taken with several players in January with funds generated from such deals involving Renato Veiga, Axel Disasi, Ben Chilwell, Chukwuemeka and Joao Felix.
