Chelsea boss Graham Potter has been warned that it may be tough to manage the squad with the amount of players he has available within it. It comes after the Blues added another eight signings in the January transfer window, creating further debate surrounding the topic of their recruitment process.
With so many changes, some tough decisions had to be made with the Champions League squad, with only three of the eight new additions able to be registered, while one existing member had to be unregistered. Joao Felix, Mykhailo Mudryk and Enzo Fernandez were chosen while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was removed from the squad.
"That’s a challenge," Potter responded to Gary Neville when asked how he will keep such a big squad happy. "There’s no point denying that because players want to play, and when they’re not playing they’re disappointed - naturally - and you have to acknowledge that and help them with that, and then try and create an environment.
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"It’s not so simple, but there’s healthy competition, we need to try and win our games, we need to try to progress in the Champions League, we need to try to involve everybody, because everybody is going to be important. We can’t win with 11, but maybe 33 is pushing it a little."
The large squad being an issue was a sentiment shared by former player Robbie Fowler, who pointed towards a trick used by Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp in their title victories as an example. He wrote for the Mirror: "I just don’t get why they [Chelsea] splashed all that extra cash though.
"Look at the likes of Guardiola and Klopp, they like to operate with relatively small squads, keeping their group tight and together. Guardiola was even prepared to let Cancelo go and reduce his squad numbers even further for the sake of harmony at City….but there can be no harmony at Chelsea with players wondering what the hell is going on."
The Blues are said to be set for a squad clear-out that would help solve those issues of a bloated squad, however moving players on may be easier said than done.
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