Your Chelsea morning digest on Thursday, February 3.
Rooney criticises Chelsea
Wayne Rooney has accused teams (like Chelsea) of taking advantage of Derby County's precarious position by raiding the club of its best talent during the transfer window, the Daily Mail has reported.
Derby are in crisis off the field having been in administration since September, which has left the club's future in serious doubt.
This has resulted in promising youngster Luke Plange being snapped up by Crystal Palace whilst promising teenager Dylan Williams departed for Chelsea.
"Some people might look at it and say, it's young players that (have) gone out, but we've been relying on young players all season, so it's a big hit for us," Rooney told BBC Derby.
"We're in a difficult position and I feel other clubs have taken advantage of that."
Raphinha impresses
Leeds winger Raphinha has shown Thomas Tuchel exactly why he needs to make a difficult Ousmane Dembele Chelsea transfer decision come the summer with what he has done during this mini-international break.
Raphinha is a player who has been linked to making a west London move in the summer and this could become a real possibility depending on what happens at Leeds after they turned down approaches from West Ham at the end of January.
But a potential swoop will be dependent on whether or not Marina Granovskaia can shift any of the attackers who are reportedly considering their futures in SW6, football.london understands.
"Raphinha is a really interesting one, though Chelsea have so many players in similar positions at the moment, they will likely need to move some players on first. Who knows though, maybe Thiago Silva has spent the international break telling him how nice Stamford Bridge is," football.london's Scott Trotter said in his deadline day Q&A on Chelsea looking ahead to the summer.
Nevertheless, regardless of whether Tuchel opts for his tried and tested Dembele over Leeds' current number 10, Raphinha himself hasn't done any harm for his reputation during this South American international break with what he was able to do in the World Cup qualifier against Paraguay on Tuesday morning.
Read more here.
Saul makes 'difficult' Chelsea demand
Chelsea midfielder Saul Niguez has offered Thomas Tuchel some 'easy' advice as the Spaniard looks for more playing time amid a slow start to his Blues career.
Saul, 27, had a poor beginning to the 2021/22 season, being hooked at half-time in his debut and culminating in an error-prone cameo against Everton during the festive schedule.
Despite mixed performances, it could be argued that the 27-year-old isn't getting enough regular minutes to justify his £30million price-tag, should the Blues wish to turn his loan move permanent.
It is something Saul wants corrected, if Tuchel is able to make the 'difficult' call to drop one of N'Golo Kante, Jorginho or Mateo Kovacic.
The Spaniard said in Chelsea's 10 questions feature: "Personally, I would like to have played more but I also understand that this team won the Champions League last season so it is difficult to get into the team. I feel good and every day I’m feeling better and prepared for when the head coach needs me."
Read the full story here.
