Photo: Manchester United Twitter

While a lot of people are unhappy with the sale of Nemanja Matic to Manchester United, the truth remains Chelsea had to let go of the Serbian after signing Tiemoue Bakayako from Monaco.

Bakayako is a younger and faster version of the 29-year-old Matic, and while Matic has been good in his three seasons at the club, there were times last season where we doubted his abilities and pleaded for Cesc Fabregas to be introduced to the Chelsea midfield.

Matic would never have agreed to sit on the bench for Bakayako, so £40m for a player who wouldn’t have made the first team is good business.

Another positive from the sale is that it will free up money for Chelsea to chase other targets.

Chelsea have just three first team central midfielders, and the Blues have been linked with Everton’s Ross Barkley and Bayern Munich’s Renato Sanches to fill the void left by Nathaniel Chalobah’s departure to Watford.

Chelsea have also been linked with Arsenal’s utility player Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and with the money gotten from the sale of a player who Chelsea had in mind to sell, it would help the Blues go a long way to secure other targets.