Chelsea's Davide Zappacosta joins Atalanta for £8m to take Blues' transfer sales income to £98.4m

Chelsea have completed the sale of Italian defender Davide Zappacosta to Atalanta, meaning the Blues are now in a profit in terms of transfer activity this summer.

The 29-year-old has moved back to his home country in a £8million transfer after four years at Stamford Bridge, but has not featured for the club since the 2019 Europa League final victory over Arsenal.

Zappacosta's sale means the amount of money Chelsea - led by transfer chief Marina Granovskaia - have recouped from new signings is now £98.4m, which just eclipses the transfer outgoing fees spent on striker Romelu Lukaku and free transfer Marcus Bettinelli.

The Blues have recouped major transfer fees for fringe players such as Tammy Abraham, who joined Roma for £34m, £25m defender Fikayo Tomori who is now at AC Milan and fellow centre-back Marc Guehi who switched to Crystal Palace for £18m.

Meanwhile, the likes of Victor Moses, Tino Livramento, Olivier Giroud, Lewis Bate and Myles Peart-Harris have commanded smaller fees but make up a large group of departing players from west London this summer.

Now Zappacosta has been moved on for a healthy transfer fee after spending the last two seasons at Italian clubs Roma and Genoa.

Speaking about the Italian defender's sale, a statement from Chelsea read: 'The right-back made a number of appearances for the Blues in pre-season but with the likes of Cesar Azpilicueta and Reece James above him in the pecking order at present, Thomas Tuchel has allowed Zappacosta to move on.

'We would like to thank Davide for his services and wish him the best of luck in the future.'

Chelsea's transfer plans are not finished yet, with Kurt Zouma in talks with West Ham over a £26m move in the final week of the transfer window.

The fee has been agreed between the two London clubs but the Frenchman's move is being stalled due to the defender asking for £125,000-a-week in wages from the east London club.

Other imminent sales include striker Uche Agbo to Genk for £5m, while Tiemoue Bakayoko and Malang Sarr are also set for Italian loans at AC Milan and Bologna respectively.

The club are hoping to shift midfielders Danny Drinkwater and Ross Barkley, with Atletico Madrid midfielder Saul Niguez a late midfield target for Tuchel's side.

Meanwhile, Chelsea are set to use their transfer profit to move for Sevilla defender Jules Kounde, who is valued at £68m by the Spanish club.

The Blues made the 22-year-old France international their No 1 defensive target this summer but delayed their pursuit of his signature to focus on securing Lukaku from Inter Milan first.

Should Chelsea acquire his services, he could become a long-term replacement for Cesar Azpilicueta in the Chelsea backline.