Chelsea are no strangers to trying to offload unwanted players – and the January transfer window will be no different as Enzo Maresca tries to trim his gigantic squad. The Blues are well-known for buying up vast numbers of talented young players before farming them out on loan. But since hiring Maresca from Leicester in the summer, they have shown signs of changing their ways, with the head coach wanting to work with a smaller squad.
Maresca has whittled down the squad to land on his core players, leaving many on the outside and needing a move in the New Year. He has continually made headlines for taking a brutal stance when it comes to discipline and will happily allow departures for fringe players in his second transfer window as boss.
There are at least five players who have been made available for transfer or a loan in January, according to BBC Sport. That list is topped by Ben Chilwell, who Chelsea remain desperate to sell, having failed to do so in the summer transfer window. Chilwell joined the club in a £50million move from Leicester in 2020 but now finds himself frozen out of the squad. He has made just one appearance this season, in the 5-0 Carabao Cup win over Barrow, and still has two and a half years left on his £200,000-a-week contract – a fact that will make a mid-season exit extremely difficult, even after Manchester United considered a move in the summer.
