Chelsea have more than enough loanees for multiple rounds of keep / loan / sell. This time, a few off-the-track names make an appearance.
Chelsea have several time more loanees than they have places for them at Stamford Bridge. Then again, even if they had room, not all of them would be what the Blues need. What, then, to do with the most notable of the three dozen or so quasi-Blues?
1. Sell: What could have been
Mario Pasalic and Marco van Ginkel (Oliver Smith)
Mario Pasalic and Marco can Ginkel have really good potential on past FIFA video games, but that is about all they have. At 24 and 26, respectively, neither look close to cracking the Chelsea line-up (or just the squad, for that matter) so it is time to move them on.
Yes, selling someone like Alvaro Morata, Tiemoue Bakayoko or Michy Batshuayi could net the club more money, but there still may be a route back to the Blues for any one of them. Especially for Bakayoko and Batshuayi, that door doesn’t necessarily need to close right now.
Pasalic and Van Ginkel, on the other hand, are near certainties to never appear at Stamford Bridge again. Selling one (or both) not only brings the club a modestly increased fee from when they bought them, it allows them to properly settle at a new club and clears out room for younger prospects.
Alvaro Morata (Abhishek Pancholi)
Rarely has a transfer been completed with both parties glad to see the back of one another. But that will be the case when Alvaro Morata finally makes his loan move to Atletico Madrid a permanent one.
Morata came to Chelsea after the club bungled the signing of Romelu Lukaku and let him go to Manchester United instead. As a fallback option, Morata was alright, if grossly overpriced and infuriatingly useless at times. The online abuse did nothing to help his fragile confidence, which is never a good trait in a striker in the first place.
Morata seems to love life in Madrid, and Atletico turned out to be one of his dream clubs (hello, Robbie Keane). This is a win-win for all concerned. It’s time to cut him loose for a sizeable fee, which Chelsea can then use to buy another dud and repeat the cycle all over again.
Tiemoue Bakayoko or Michy Batshuayi (Barrett Rouen)
It’s really a case of whoever Chelsea can sell for the most money. Neither are bad players, and Tiemoue Bakayoko could replace Ruben Loftus-Cheek for the year he’ll be rehabbing back at Chelsea. Bakayoko earned some credibility and confidence over the course of his time in Milan.
Batshuayi seemingly doesn’t fit in the team. It’s a very difficult side to earn a place, regardless.
Overall, none of the loan players looks like an obvious sale because most have not distinguished themselves enough to sell on and the ones that have Chelsea would be better off keeping.
Matt Miazga (Nate Hofmann)
The number one storyline coming from Chelsea’s purchase of Christian Pulisic in January was, naturally, the inevitable end of Matt Miazga’s Chelsea career. With Pulisic entering the fold, Chelsea have exceeded their quota of American players, rendering Miazga surplus to requirements.
In all seriousness, Miazga is pretty far down the pecking order of loan army center backs, and, at 23 years old, his status as a young up-and-comer is wearing off.
After managing only 18 appearances at Reading last season, his transfer value is anyone’s guess. But a string of good performances in the Gold Cup this summer might allow Chelsea to recoup the £4 million or so they spent on him in 2016.