Chelsea have been mocked – but how many of their outcasts would make Maresca’s team better?

By Simon Johnson

The time has come to put Chelsea’s so-called ‘bomb squad’ into perspective.

Chelsea have been heavily criticised this week over the treatment of players no longer wanted at Stamford Bridge and the fact they have so many to get rid of before the transfer deadline next Friday (August 30).

There are questions for Chelsea to answer. Putting on separate training sessions for a group of unwanted players is never a good look, especially as it makes it clear to interested parties how little the club value them.

But amid the outcry, nobody seems to have considered how many of the rejects would improve Enzo Maresca’s squad. Chelsea’s new head coach was having to deny suggestions his actions were ‘brutal’ in a press conference on Wednesday, yet which players can say they have been truly hard done by? Not that many when you look at it with a more measured eye.

Not everyone will agree with the names on my list. But now Conor Gallagherhas gone, only defender Trevoh Chalobahand goalkeeper Djordje Petrovichave a strong case to say they have been harshly treated.

The furore all started with Maresca telling Raheem Sterlingbefore the club’s opening Premier Leaguegame against Manchester Citylast weekend that the 29-year-old would be better off leaving if he wants regular football. It understandably came as a shock to Sterling after featuring regularly in pre-season (albeit not starting every game), and he was talking positively to friends about the Italian’s training sessions.

But is his omission really that bad a call, especially now Pedro Netoand Joao Felixhave been signed? As new arrivals, they are automatically high up in the pecking order. Sterling has scored 19 goals and provided 12 assists in 81 appearances for Chelsea. The figures are reasonable but do not reflect value for money considering he is their biggest earner on more than £300,000 a week and cost around £47.5million ($62.3m at the current exchange rate) to sign from Manchester City two years ago.

For all his faults, Sterling is still a more polished player than Mykhailo Mudryk, who has struggled for consistency since joining from Shakhtar Donetsk of his native Ukraine for an initial £62million in January 2023.

As one of nine changes from Sunday’s City defeat for the 2-0 Conference League play-off round first-leg win at home against Switzerland’s Servette on Thursday, the Ukraineinternational was again more miss than hit. Even Maresca conceded that he “had some good moments and then some moments like flipping a coin. You don’t know if it’s one thing or the other thing. This is Misha (Mudryk). If he can become more consistent, he can take one step forward”.

Mudryk, at 23, has plenty of opportunities to get better, whereas Sterling turns 30 in December and is struggling to show his best days are not behind him. Mudryk is paid considerably less than Sterling, with a salary of £97,000 per week, which is surely a factor in Chelsea’s thinking regardless of the insistence it is just a ‘technical decision’.

Noni Madueke, by no means certain to stay, enjoyed a better pre-season than both of them and scored last night.

Ben Chilwellshould always be respected for being part of the 2021 Champions League-winning team but injuries have restricted him to 30 Premier League starts in the past three completed seasons.

The England international, who turns 28 in December, is renowned as a traditional left-back/left wing-back. That skill set does not marry up with how Maresca wants Chelsea to play, with full-backs being asked to ‘invert’ to a more central role when his team have possession. Losing Chilwell’s experienced voice would be a blow but if he is hardly going to be on the pitch for fitness and tactical reasons, it is not a healthy situation for anyone if he stays.

Nobody will dispute that Romelu Lukakuand Kepa Arrizabalagaare two expensive mistakes the hierarchy inherited from their predecessors. The club spent a combined £169million on the pair and neither proved their worth.

Lukaku, who is subject of transfer talks with Napoli, has no interest in playing for Chelsea again after struggling in his only season back at the club in 2021-22 (he was also bought for £18million from Anderlecht in 2011 but was sold to Evertonthree years later having made one Premier League start for Chelsea). The Belgium international, now 31, scored 15 goals in 44 appearances in 2021-22 and has spent the two years since away on loan at Inter Milanand Roma.

Goalkeeper Arrizabalaga is not adept at passing out from the back, which is what Maresca demands, nor from keeping the ball out of the net (he conceded 175 goals in 163 appearances for Chelsea).

A decision to loan Armando Brojato Ipswich Townhas been made, so he is not being ostracised anymore. Carney Chukwuemeka, bought from Aston Villafor £20million in the summer of 2022, clearly has talent, but he has made just four starts in his two years (mainly due to injury). Considering the increased competition in attacking midfield, he finds himself up for sale even though he still gets to train with the first team.

David Datro Fofana(four Chelsea first-team appearances since signing in January 2023), Angelo Gabriel (none in his debut season) and Deivid Washington(three after joining last summer) are more purchases made by the Todd Boehly/Clearlake consortium who are available for transfer or a loan. Having spent around £40million on that trio, it is more potentially wasted funds but that does not mean it is wrong to leave them out now.

Other names on the list are the under-21 players Alex Matos, Harvey Vale and Tino Anjorin. All are gifted but have never been regarded as regular first-team players, so including them is misleading.

Which leaves just Petrovic and Chalobah as the candidates who perhaps should still be under consideration by Maresca.

Petrovic, 24, is not the finished article, but he impressed more in the second half of last season than Robert Sanchezdid in the first, yet it was Sanchez starting for Chelsea against City last weekend. Petrovic is on the transfer/loan list because the club decided to buy Filip Jorgensen, who was in goal last night, from Spain’s Villarreallast month to compete with Sanchez.

Nobody would suggest Chalobah is of the calibre of another former Chelsea academy graduate John Terry as a defender, but seeing Axel Disasiand Benoit Badiashileconsistently struggle at the back makes you question what is going on. That the homegrown Chalobah will count as pure profit on the booksif sold is a significant factor but at what cost to Chelsea’s defensive record?

It remains to be seen what the squad Maresca has opted for can achieve.

There are still weaknesses there, as City and Servette have exposed. But that does not mean, barring a couple of exceptions at most, that the misfits should be welcomed back into the fold.