” I don’t work with 42 players. I work with 21 players. ” This is one of the sentences dropped by Enzo Maresca during his last press briefing, before the match against Servette Geneva, won by a score of 2-0. Chelsea’s bloated squad is indeed causing a stir in England and elsewhere. And the first consequences are becoming apparent. We are thinking of the Sterling case, who went from being a major player to being asked to leave as soon as possible in just a few weeks.
Obviously, with such a squad, the Italian coach has to leave a lot of people out when it comes to composing his group. The first two matches of the season have allowed us to see more clearly which players are lacking consideration. In addition to Raheem Sterling, players like Ben Chilwell, Cesare Casadei, Trevor Chalobah, Noni Madueke, Armando Broja, Romelu Lukaku, David Datro Fofana and Deivid Washington know that it will be difficult to get playing time.
Madueke Sterling and co
For some, their loan or transfer is only a matter of days, like Broja, on his way to promoted Ipswich, or Romelu Lukaku, desperately awaited by Antonio Conte in Naples. For others, things should move by the end of the transfer window. For a few hours now, rumors and interest have been piling up. The Magpies are also now thinking about recovering Noni Madueke in the form of a loan, as explained Sky Sports.
Aston Villa, for their part, are ready to jump on the Raheem Sterling opportunity. Very ambitious, the Villans, coached by Unai Emery and qualified for the Champions League, have reportedly started discussions with Chelsea about the 29-year-old English striker. However, we will have to be wary of the feasibility of these operations. FIFA had modified the regulations on the number of loans allowed per club and per season. For 2024-2025, the limit is 6 players on loan (six in the direction of arrivals and six in the direction of departures), but this limit does not apply to players aged 21 or under or players trained at the club. For the moment, Chelsea have loaned a total of seven players, but they are all under 21, with the exception of Bashir Humphreys, exactly 21, on loan to Burnley.
