Chelsea have just 6 foreign loan slots available this season as FIFA rules tighten up on clubs farming out their assets, and that could soon become a problem.
As noted Twitter use Chelsea Youth noted a couple of days ago, it's going to lead to some pretty tricky decisions come the transfer deadline. That's especially true following this afternoon's news that Aaron Anselmino is going to be signed by the Blues and then sent to Strasbourg.
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Assuming that's accurate, that leaves just 5 slots, and a lot of players who will want to fill them. The priority is Kepa Arrizabalaga and Romelu Lukaku, as they have huge wages and it seems unlikely anyone's going to buy them outright. Given they're approaching the end of their deals however, this might finally be the summer we get a resolution in their awful cases.
Six international loan slots and Kepa, Lukaku, Angelo, Andrey, Ugochukwu, Deivid Washington, Datro Fofana, Slonina, Bergstrom, Moreira, whoever else you want to add +maybe Guiu and Anselmino is going to lead to some less than ideal choices for player and club come September.
- Chelsea Youth (@chelseayouth) June 24, 2024
Big decisions for a growing squad As Chelsea Youth said, that leaves Andrey Santos, Lesley Ugochukwu, Deivid Washington, David Fofana, Gabriel Slonina, Diego Moreira and Lucas Bergstrom all likely expecting a temporary move overseas. It also means that players like Alfie Gilchrist and Bashir Humphreys have their chances of a move abroad ended.
Some of those guys can be sent on loan to teams in England of course, but we've seen issues with that in the last couple of seasons. Santos, for example, sat on the bench with Nottingham Forest for 6 months before he was rescued by being shuffled out to Strasbourg - but even that move required Diego Moreira to be brought back from his Lyon move to play in the youth teams. He won't be happy if that happens again.
This is where the sporting directors are going to have to earn their money - keeping the players happy as well as making sure they're all in the right position to maximise their potential and their potential profit too.