Chelsea has a solid starting XI and a manager without a strong history of rotation. So why do so many players want to stay and fight for a spot?
Clubs have a finite amount of spots for players. Those spots are relegated by the players on the field, the home grown rules, and more.
So somewhere, something has to give. A player has to go because the squad cannot accommodate them and keep them happy.
But Chelsea has a different issue this season. Too many players want to stay and fight. From a variety of sources, both more reliable and less, players have either said they want to stay and fight or have been rumored to. And the truth is that most of them are fighting an uphill, unwinnable battle.
First of all, Maurizio Sarri has little history of rotation. During his time at Napoli, he focused heavily on the league. For every thing else, he made at most four changes to the starting XI. That was consistent regardless of who they were playing. So basically, if a player is in the usual match day 18, they can warrant staying a fighting. Everyone else cannot.
Take Ruben Loftus-Cheek, for instance. Currently, he has Ross Barkley and now Mateo Kovacic ahead of him. That will put a tight squeeze on Loftus-Cheek even making the 18. Yet, he wants to stay and fight. That could be a waste of a vital development year for the Englishman.
Further up the pitch, there is the case of Tammy Abraham. Abraham has had a mixed history with his loans, but following them up with being third striker at Chelsea is less than ideal. He will have to fight his way into the 18 as he is clearly looking from the outside. Yet, he wants to stay and fight.
Much of this will depend on how Sarri sets up his bench. If he does so logically, he will have a bench that includes a goalkeeper, a centerback, a fullback, a defensive midfielder, an attacking midfielder, a winger, and a striker. If a player is outside of those criteria, they have little chance of playing unless Sarri breaks his own traditions.
Ironically, one of the players that should have stayed and fought was one that left on loan. The striker position is the one with the least stability. If Michy Batshuayi had stayed, he would have been the second choice striker. And with Alvaro Morata prone to misfiring, Batshuayi could have forced his way in.
Squads of 25 (plus youth) are all about rotation and man management. And it is simply easier to convince an older player that they are not good enough to play often than it is a young player. It is understandable that some players want to fight, but the club should have corrected them. The chances will be few and far between for many of them and it will hurt their development.
Sarri will have to break his own traditions and rotate this season. If he does not, the Blues will see an exodus of players in January and the summer. The players who thought they could fight an uphill battle will find themselves sliding backwards.