Chelsea should plan against Maurizio Sarri’s dream of a smaller squad

The transfer window is open, which means Chelsea can help Maurizio Sarri fulfill his goal of further reducing the size of his squad. Someone at Stamford Bridge must ensure the club have enough players to meet any unforeseen needs, whether Sarri’s or his successor’s.

Where and when are the only questions left over Gary Cahill, Danny Drinkwater, Cesc Fabregas and Victor Moses. Their preferred answer to the latter question is likely “ASAFP.” Andreas Christensen has a sliver of if to his future, and it would be more surprising if he stayed at Chelsea than if he left this month.

These transfers are not what these players had in mind this summer, or perhaps even as recently as November, when some still had a plausible if infinitesimal bit of hope for their future at Chelsea. But the dead rubber Europa League games disabused them of those hopes, as Maurizio Sarri’s squads for those meaningless game showed that the exclusion of these veterans was all part of his plan.

His bosses – whoever they are in this Abramovich-less post-technical director era – must ensure Sarri’s plan does not become the club’s master plan. Particularly in what could be the last transfer window before a two-year ban, the Blues cannot go through January with only exits for their transfer activity.

Maurizio Sarri’s squad choices have Chelsea shedding some of their last true locker room leaders. We can (and have) argue all day about whether Gary Cahill, Cesc Fabregas or Victor Moses could adapt to Sarri’s system, their utility for squad rotation, how they may be more suited to play against particular opponents than players in the best XI and so on. The leadership qualities they bring – their personal presence (Cahill), their gravitas (Fabregas), their personal and professional history (Moses), their experience with and bridge to football dynasties (Cahill and Fabregas), their intelligent selflessness (all) – are much less a matter for informed debate.

The club cannot replace these qualities in the transfer market. Even if they bring in a widely-respected, well-accomplished veteran of clubs and country, he will not be able to assume an immediate, club-specific leadership role. Players who can do that are exceedingly rare, and they must be coming to a club willing to receive them. Think John Terry at Aston Villa. And just to drive home my point, now think about Gonazlo Higuain with this Chelsea locker room.

But I’ve already written an article on the leadership aspects (read it here, after you finish this one). The need they can actually satisfy with winter transfer business and smart in-house management is the simple need for footballers in various stages of development.

Maurizio Sarri may only want 23 players in his squad, but Chelsea need many more than that in the club. They need players in the academy, in the loan army and on the fringes. Not as many top calibre players wasting away as they have now, but enough to meet whatever needs may arise in the second half of the season and perhaps until 2021 when FIFA will let them buy again.

The current situation at winger is a perfect example. Chelsea lost Pedro, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ruben Loftus-Cheek to injury all within a week. Sarri needed Ross Barkley at attacking midfielder, so he once again turned to Emerson as a late substitute at left wing.

Now think about what this will be like next year when Eden Hazard and Hudson-Odoi – along with Moses – could be elsewhere. And when Willian and Pedro are closer to their mid-30s than their late 20s. Or the year after, when Pedro is out of a contract. Who then will they turn to? Repurposing players a la Marcos Alonso, Victor Moses or N’Golo Kante as part of a larger volition is one thing. Recasting an outcast player in a new role on the fly because he is fit, present and left-footed is not a strategy for success.

The time may come when Maurizio Sarri will need more full-backs, more wingers or actual strikers. This may be in the middle of a season due to injuries and suspensions, or could be a standard summer adjustment.

Sarri may not care too much about what Reece James, Ola Aina, Trevoh Chalobah, Billy Gilmour and Charlie Brown are doing these days. But life and football have a way of making you care, usually at the worst possible time.

Maurizio Sarri says he does not like to get involved in transfer activity, saying it is beyond his purview as the head coach. Those statements are only half-true: he may not make many requests for new players or involve himself in the purchase side of things, but he most certainly has an active role in sales. We may not know who makes the decisions about who comes to the club, but we know precisely who is showing unwanted players to the door.

Chelsea cannot sell or make loans to oblivion for every player in excess of Sarri’s preferred 23. Nor can they let him dictate the development path for academy players, because he would divert that path to every pitch other than Stamford Bridge. The heretofore invisible adults in the room must keep an eye beyond this window, this squad, this season and this coach.

Someone other than Sarri must ensure Chelsea FC have enough players to meet any eventuality over the next few years, including a transfer ban. Sarri is taking enough of a gamble by going through one season and four competitions with 23 players. The club cannot let those same 23 players be the only ones he has available for the next few years.