Chelsea’s busy summer goes on and there is still no sign of slowing down. Enzo Maresca’s squad continues to get bigger and bigger, almost by the day, with plenty to be done before the Premier League opener against Manchester City in just three weeks.
There is still a little over a month left of the transfer window as well for all business to be completed but the clock is starting to emerge as a big battle for the club. Having already left out a handful of players with an argument (if not more) to be included in the pre-season tour travelling group, there is yet to be significant progress in whittling down the options available to the head coach.
Filip Jorgensen is the latest to join up in USA after completing his move from Villarreal. He will fight Robert Sanchez for the No.1 spot at Stamford Bridge, leaving questions over Djordje Petrovic’s future.
Chelsea already have five senior goalkeepers on the books before accounting for Jorgensen, and must surely now be looking to make progress towards a permanent exit for Kepa Arrizabalaga as well as Petrovic. Lucas Bergstrom will likely be eyeing up a loan move away as well.
These are logical next steps for the club to take but they cannot be the only one. The pursuit of Victor Osimhen comes at a time whereby Nicolas Jackson is yet to feature in pre-season but is currently the only senior striker likely to be at the club come the end of August (Armando Broja is expected to leave whilst Marc Guiu is just 18).
Going for Osimhen at this stage will also be balanced with finding new homes for potential loanees and those departing full-time. Caleb Wiley is at the Olympics and is expected to join Andrey Santos in moving to RC Strasbourg for the new season but Angelo Gabriel and Lesley Ugochukwu are both on tour and will need a place to play.
There is a large group at Cobham including (but not limited to) Bashir Humphreys, Alfie Gilchrist, Gabriel Slonina, Alex Matos, Cesare Casadei, Deivid Washington, and David Datro Fofana who will also need loans or exits of some form with an ever depleting number of international loan spots available on paper. What happens to Guiu, Omari Kellyman, and Renato Veiga also waits to be seen.
Then there are the more high-profile deals. As well as Kepa there is Romelu Lukaku to offload (possibly in part exchange for Osimhen). Broja has already been listed but Trevoh Chalobah is back at the Surrey training complex after being cast aside. Conor Gallagher is not at the same stage but Chelsea are in advanced talks to sell him to Atletico Madrid.
Given that a deal there is now moving towards a key stage – which will now rest on Gallagher himself agreeing to join Diego Simeone’s side – getting that over the line will be a priority. As will be sorting Chalobah’s future.
The goalkeeper situation is a must-watch as well before too many more names are added to Maresca’s squad. The loans and wider group deals certainly need looking at too but perhaps won’t be front and centre of the coming week.
