Chelsea reshaping the loan army by off-loading most experienced veterans

Chelsea are having a fire! sale of some of their long-term loanees. The Blues have already sold more experience out of the loan army than in any season in the last decade.

Who would have guessed that even without FIFA imposing a needless regulation (as opposed to the many needed reforms they steadfastly refused to make) Chelsea would eventually self-correct their bloated loan system? Me, for starters. FIFA bandied about the idea last year to cap clubs at eight loanees, with some wiggle room for players under a certain age. With Chelsea having over three dozen loanees for the last few seasons, this regulation seemed aimed at Stamford Bridge and people wonder how the club would react.

As it happened, a different, truly specific ruling from a different governing body forced the Blues into reform this summer. Chelsea responded to the transfer ban by promoting many academy players into the first team, and it seems that along the way, they decided to clear out some of the reserves.

Kasey Palmer completed his transfer to Bristol City on Thursday. Palmer was the seventh player with three or more loans to leave the club this summer.

Those seven players – Palmer, Tomas Kalas, Jay Dasilva, Victorien Angban, Fankaty Dabo, Todd Kane and Josimar Quintero – combined for 780 first-team games while out on loan… and four (4. Cuatro.) for Chelsea’s first-team. Tomas Kalas had all four.

Kalas accounted for nearly a third of those collective appearances, but even without his 248 games this would still be the most experienced crop of loanees to leave in a season. The next closest was 2014/15, when the departures of Ryan Bertrand and Patrick van Aanholt contributed to 432 loan games making their exit.

Bertrand is the outlier in terms of games actually played for Chelsea FC by a serial loanee. Bertrand made 57 appearances in Blue, while no other player with three or more loans mustered more than 22 (Josh McEachran – before you ask, Nathan Ake only had 17 first-team games). Of the 34 players with three or more loans who the Blues have sold or released in the last decade, 21 never made an appearance for their nominal club’s first team.

These numbers could still increase significantly this summer, solidifying this as a turning point season for the loan system.

Kenneth Omeruo, the longest-serving loanee now that Kalas is a full-time Robin, is strongly linked with a permanent transfer to Leganes, his most recent loan destination. Lucas Piazon was among the first eight players Frank Lampard sent back from the preseason tour, following the opening game at Bohemian. Piazon is entering the last year of his contract. If the Blues want to get anything for their troubles of having him on the books for seven and half years and four (4. Cuatro) appearances, this is their chance.

With over 300 on-loan first-team appearances between these two, their departures would bring the tally to over 1,000 games among the departees.

The reduction of the loan army, particularly players whose chance at the first team is long gone if it was ever there, dovetails with the promotion of other youth players into the first team. Chelsea are restoring the loan army to its proper function of player development and a slight reserve corps, rather than as a clumsy and unwieldy workaround for Financial Fair Play. By establishing an actual path into the first team Chelsea will not have to spend as much each season on transfers. This reduces their need to hedge against their FFP margins by using their loan system as a form of emergency cash and creative accounting.

Like in a household budget, it’s cheaper to eat at home than to go out every night.

As we’ve said many times over the last few years, the club owes these players the chance for stability and progression that can only come with playing for your permanent club. Within a season or two, the loan army will be younger, leaner and more in touch with the club.

Hardest hit will be all the banter merchants who will have one fewer thing to knock Chelsea for.