It’s been another tumultuous transfer window for Chelsea, and with little over a week remaining, it looks as though the club could be in for another busy period.
A deal for Romelu Lukaku needs to be signed off with Napoli before Victor Osimhen can potentially come the other way, whilst Ben Chilwell, Axel Disasi and Raheem Sterling all appear to have been told that they need to find themselves new clubs before the deadline.
Enzo Maresca’s way of dealing with players that are of no use to him seems to be particularly blunt, though his honesty has to be applauded.
?? Raheem Sterling and Ben Chilwell are now officially OUT of Chelsea project as they are training apart from first team.
Enzo Maresca: “I just try to be honest… I told Raheem he’s going to struggle to get minutes with us. Chilly, he’s going to struggle here too”. pic.twitter.com/k9NdHUeeDc
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 21, 2024
At least those footballers that don’t form part of his plans have been told in reasonable enough time for them to be able to find themselves alternative employment.
From Sterling’s point of view, he’s made it quite clear where he expects to be in 2024/25 and beyond.
According to Sky Sports, the first signing that Clearlake Capital made when they took over the club wants to remain in the Premier League.
Whether there will be any takers in the English top-flight will only be known at the end of the month, though much is likely to depend on Chelsea’s asking price for a player that is understood to want to win his England place back.
The ruthlessness with which Chelsea are going about their transfer business again might not be particularly palatable to the outsider, and there are reasonable question marks as to why there are 39 players in their first team squad (transfermarkt).
However, the Blues are still clearly a work in progress for Clearlake, and their ownership model means that there will continue to be tough decisions made in the pursuit of success.
They just need Enzo Maresca to finally crack the code in order for their to be some justification to their methods.
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