Chelsea have been forced to make a late addition to their squad for their Europa Conference League clash against Servette after an admin error meant Tosin Adarabioyo was missed off the list.
The defender joined the Blues on a free transfer from Fulham over the summer, but was left on the bench for the opening day defeat to Manchester City. Chelsea’s next game comes in their Europa Conference League qualifier on Thursday night at Stamford Bridge.
At first, Adarabioyo was not included in the 21-man A List of senior players, but that was then updated on Wednesday. UEFA confirmed to the BBC that an admin error meant the defender was mistakenly not included.
Raheem Sterling, Wesley Fofana and Ben Chilwell were all also missing from the squad, but unlike Adarabioyo have not been added. The 26-year-old signed a four year contract after joining from the Cottagers, with the Blues confident he would become a key player.
Co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart said: “We are delighted to bring Tosin to Chelsea. Throughout his career, he has showcased his maturity and defensive qualities and has gained a wealth of experience in the Premier League in recent seasons.
“He is ready to make the step up to Chelsea and work alongside the talented players in our squad. We look forward to Tosin joining up with us for pre-season.”
While there is confidence over Adarabioyo’s future, boss Enzo Maresca picked Colwill and Fofana as his centre-back pairing against City. Maresca’s men would go on to lose to the reigning champions, but the new manager is confident of the direction his side are heading in.
“I thought our performance was good. We don’t like to lose but I thought the performance was there. We competed against the best team in the world and we competed for large parts at the same level and in some moments were even better,” he said.
“We created chances and I think the big difference between us and them was especially in the box and the way they managed the ball in the last parts of the game but they are masters at that. Overall, I think our performance was quite good.
“I think today we were better than the last game, against Inter Milan, and I think that this is the most important thing – to improve game-by-game. For me, it is very clear that we are improving and the direction is the right direction.
“I said the other day that I didn’t expect the team to already be this [far] ahead so the direction is a good one and I don’t have any doubt that day by day we are getting better and we are going to have days where we win games and we will be happier.”
