Chelsea got a pair of long-awaited deals over the line on Wednesday, sending Conor Gallagher to Atletico Madrid and re-signing Joao Felix a year after his brief loan spell at the club, but are still stuck with plenty of roster problems as transfer deadline day nears.
While Gallagher’s transfer comes after months of speculation that Chelsea would need to get him off their books to comply with the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules, adding Felix to the team still keeps the roster at 44 players — far more than the 25 allowed in a Premier League squad. Their bloated team continues to create confusion around what the Blues’ actual plans are on the pitch, and, as Nico Cantor notes, potentially an unworkable situation for new manager Enzo Maresca.
- Cantor: “You can’t have this many people on your team because it’s too much. … A lot of people might not be comfortable with this situation so if I’m Maresca — it would behoove him to go to someone and say, ‘Look, these are my 32 or 28 guys that I’m going to use for the season. Everybody else, I’m sorry but go train with the reserves,’ because you can’t have too many voices in the locker room.”
The oversized roster is definitely not ideal for Maresca, who took just 28 players on Chelsea’s preseason tour of the U.S. and admitted Wednesday that he is just working with 21 players, not the 40-plus that are under contract. The downsized group means Maresca has had to exclude a handful of high-profile players, most notably Raheem Sterling and Ben Chilwell. The manager took a mild tone when discussing Sterling’s future with Chelsea on Sunday, but suggested on Wednesday those players might not be part of his plans this season.
- Maresca:Â “I am not working with 42 players. More than 15 players are training apart and not with the team. I spoke with Raheem before the City game, I said he will struggle to get minutes with us. With Chilly, I said he is a lovely guy but because of his position, he will struggle. I am not saying Raheem is not a good player but I prefer different kinds of wingers — that is why. I did not see Raheem [after the match when he asked for clarification through his representatives]. If I sit with Raheem, I will tell him the exact same things I told him. Everything was clear.”
