Many of Chelsea’s wantaway players have an unusual common background: they are all homegrown in the Premier League. This means Chelsea may have to hold on to them, whether anybody wants that or not.
Chelsea’s final few loan and transfer moves of the summer took place along the thin margin the club had with its homegrown player quota. The Blues have their exact maximum of 17 non-homegrown players, as permitted by the Premier League. Among those 17 are Maurizio Sarri’s best XI, most of his usual 14 and back-up goalkeeper Willy Caballero and victim-of-the-system Lucas Piazon.
The homegrown players truly do just round out the squad, as the most cynical reading of the requirement would have one do. Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Ross Barkley are the emerging bright spots. But most of the others are closer to the homegrown Rob Green than any of the non-homegrown who play twice a week. Little wonder, then, Victor Moses, Danny Drinkwater, Andreas Christensen, Gary Cahill and Cesc Fabregas are all plausibly linked with moves away as early as January.
But however much these players may want to leave and Maurizio Sarri may not care (or notice) if they go, Chelsea may need to lash them to the stanchions at Cobham strictly for compliance reasons.
If any of these players left, Chelsea would have to replace them with another homegrown player. This is likely part of the reason Callum Wilson is running to the top of the Chelsea rumour mill. He arguably fills a need on the pitch (arguably), and he would allow Chelsea to go one-in / one-out on the homegrown front.
Since Maurizio Sarri uses so few players, he does not even need his full allotment of 25 roster spots plus the unlimited U21’s. One of the weird things about the homegrown rule is that it does not mandate a minimum number of homegrown players, simply a maximum number of non-homegrown. In theory, Chelsea could sell or loan Fabregas, Moses or Drinkwater and simply not replace him. Replacing them would only be necessary if Sarri saw a need for an additional warm body to take up one of those bottom roster spots. But if Sarri only plans on using 22 players in the Premier League (and we’re not delving into UEFA’s straight outta Brussels level of administrative arcana for their version of the rule), then he could simply let these players go.
For Danny Drinkwater and Lucas Piazon, this is a realistic option. Neither have played, and Sarri does not seem too broken up about it. He has a surplus of midfielders as it is, three of whom are homegrown: Loftus-Cheek, Barkley and Fabregas. The former two are carving a solid role for themselves and have expressed no desire to leave. Fabregas has a slowly increasing role in the side, but still plays far less than he, many fans and certainly other teams believe he could productively play.
A similar calculation takes place for Andreas Christensen and Gary Cahill. Neither are playing as much as they prefer, and they would walk into to a starting XI at many teams in England or Europe. Sarri does not seem to have too much attachment to either, despite affirming Gary Cahill as the club captain. If either left, Sarri would need to consider who would cover an injury to Antonio Rudiger or David Luiz. But, aside from the early FA Cup ties, it would not affect his rotation too much in the Premier League or Europa League.
Chelsea will sell many more players than they will buy in the next two transfer windows. Maurizio Sarri says he is happy with the size of the squad, and he seems content with his rotation. If he is not reaching all the way down the club’s depth charts for tactical experimentation or squad rotation, there is little reason for the club to add before they subtract. And there is no reason – at least not in Sarri’s eyes – for a net add in the coming year.
However, Chelsea may not quite be ready to sell the players who most want to be sold. Sarri seems willing to push his favoured players to the brink of exhaustion and overuse. But he hopefully still knows that football is unpredictable. At any moment, reality may force you to take a player you never much favoured and start him in the Premier League. He may use the same 18 players for as long as possible, but fate could quickly force him up to 24.
If that happens, Chelsea will need 24 eligible players. The only thing Sarri likes doing less than playing his less-favoured players is playing youth. He would rather have a batch of homegrown players composting on the bench than reach into the academy to grab some U21’s for the matchday squad.
Premier League clubs are quite clever in how they interpret, implement and distort the well-meaning regulations handed down by the various governing bodies. As hoped, Chelsea have a strong contingent of highly regarded homegrown players. Contrary to the league’s intentions, they are only there to fill a quota.
Not every cynical misapplication of rules requires Football Leaks to bring it into the open. Danny Drinkwater, Victor Moses and a few others may be more than willing to talk about from their next home.