Chelsea are heading into their Premier League opener against Fulham with up to 12 players working in a separate training group at Cobham — and that number tells you everything about the scale of the squad problem Xabi Alonso inherited.
Nicolas Jackson, Liam Delap and Mykhailo Mudryk are among those operating apart from the first-team sessions. So are defenders Tosin Adarabioyo and Axel Disasi. The club is quick to distance this from the notorious 'bomb squad' arrangements of earlier BlueCo seasons — pointing to Jordan Henderson and Danny Welbeck's inclusion in the group as evidence it isn't punitive. But semantics aside, having 12 players outside your main training structure days before a league opener is not a sign of a club in clean shape.
The price tags attached to the problem
Several of those players are available for transfer, and Chelsea aren't exactly slashing prices. Delap won't move for less than £50 million. Jackson has a £65 million valuation attached to his name. Whether the market agrees with those figures before the window closes is the real question — and right now, neither deal appears close.
Mudryk's situation is different. Chelsea are looking to loan him out following his return from suspension, but haven't found a destination yet. A player with his profile sitting in a holding pattern isn't ideal for anyone involved.
Disasi and Tosin have interest from Premier League clubs and abroad, but again, nothing concrete. With 41 players listed on their official site — and that figure doesn't even include Disasi — Chelsea are carrying a squad that no manager could coherently work with.
What it means for the season's opening odds
Alonso is reportedly working with sporting directors to force through departures before the Fulham game. Until that happens, the uncertainty around Chelsea's attacking options has real implications. Jackson and Delap are both listed as available — meaning the men who'd otherwise be competing for a starting striker role are effectively in a transfer waiting room rather than building chemistry within the main group.
Emmanuel Emegha, signed from Strasbourg this summer, is expected to factor into Alonso's plans alongside Welbeck and Joao Pedro at centre-forward. That's a trio nobody has seen together. Chelsea's attacking output — and by extension their goals-scored markets — looks harder to predict than it should be at this point in the calendar.
Chelsea open at Craven Cottage this weekend carrying 41 registered senior players, a separate training group of 12, and a transfer window that hasn't delivered the clarity the new manager needs. That's the situation.
