{"id":730215,"date":"2026-08-07T08:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T08:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/730215\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T08:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T08:04:10","slug":"who-will-exit-chelsea-how-blues-could-cut-41-man-squad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/730215\/","title":{"rendered":"Who will exit Chelsea? How Blues could cut 41-man squad"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chelsea<\/a> are out of European football next season after finishing 10th in a campaign where Enzo Maresca left the club and Liam Rosenior was dismissed.<\/p>\n

Alonso has some difficult decisions ahead.<\/p>\n

His goalkeeping options appear set, with Robert Sanchez joined by exciting Belgian prospect Mike Penders, 21, following his impressive loan spell at French club Strasbourg, with with Teddy Sharman-Lowe likely to serve as the third-choice understudy.<\/p>\n

At full-back, club captain Reece James, also capable of playing in midfield, is joined on the right by Gusto and Palestra.<\/p>\n

Chelsea<\/a> have put a \u00a375m price tag on Gusto after Manchester City<\/a> emerged as potential suitors.<\/p>\n

On the left, Chelsea<\/a> have Jorrel Hato and are close to completing the \u00a316.3m signing of Chavarria.<\/p>\n

At centre-back, Chelsea<\/a> have nine players and Alonso has said the group needs reducing to “four or five”.<\/p>\n

Disasi and Badiashile are available for sale, while Mamadou Sarr is expected to depart on loan. That would leave new signing Lacroix competing with Levi Colwill, Josh Acheampong, Wesley Fofana and Tosin Adarabioyo.<\/p>\n

It remains unclear what will happen with Argentina Under-20 international Aaron Anselmino, although another loan move appears likely having spent last term with Borussia Dortmund and Strasbourg.<\/p>\n

In midfield Chelsea have put a \u00a3120m price tag on Fernandez,<\/a> who is exploring his options, although the club would also be happy to keep him.<\/p>\n

He is joined by fellow key central midfielder Moises Caicedo, fit-again Romeo Lavia, new signing Barco, who can play a number of positions in that area, Henderson and Dario Essugo.<\/p>\n

Essugo, 21, was previously told he would be staying but is open to a loan move because of his need for regular football after an injury-hit campaign.<\/p>\n

In attack, the shock return of Mykhailo Mudryk<\/a> is another situation Chelsea<\/a> must manage.<\/p>\n

The club insist all options remain open and are assessing his fitness following his return after 20 months out, because of a suspension relating to a positive test for the banned substance meldonium.<\/p>\n

Jamie Gittens is another option on the left wing, while Pedro Neto and new arrival Geovany Quenda are primarily right-sided players. Cole Palmer and Rogers are the two number 10s.<\/p>\n

Chelsea<\/a> would also like to have three strikers going into next season. Alongside Joao Pedro and summer signing Welbeck, one further forward is likely to remain in the squad.<\/p>\n

That looks likely to be Emegha, although there remains uncertainty given Chelsea<\/a> also have Nicolas Jackson and Liam Delap on their books.<\/p>\n

There is some overlap but, from information gathered by BBC Sport to date, this is the best projection of what Chelsea<\/a>‘s squad could look like.<\/p>\n

Projected Chelsea<\/a> squad: Sanchez, Penders, Sharman-Lowe, James, Palestra, Tosin, Fofana, Lacroix, Acheampong, Colwill, Hato, Chavarria, Caicedo, Fernandez, Barco, Lavia, Henderson, Quenda, Neto, Palmer, Estevao, Rogers, Gittens, Emegha, Joao Pedro, Welbeck.<\/p>\n

Available for loan: Guiu, Wiley, Kellyman, Mheuka, Walsh, Kavuma-McQueen, Kendry Paez.<\/p>\n

Available for sale\/uncertain futures, with desired fees for some players in brackets: Badiashile (\u00a330m), Disasi (\u00a325m), Guiu (\u00a325m), Datro Fofana, Delap, Jackson (\u00a365m), Slonina, Gusto (\u00a375m), Fernandez (\u00a3120m), Emegha, Neto, Essugo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chelsea are out of European football next season after finishing 10th in a campaign where Enzo Maresca left…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":730216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-730215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=730215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/730216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=730215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=730215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=730215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}