Who Chelsea should look to move on in the January window

The January transfer window opens imminently but for Chelsea, this one should be more of a case of moving players on than bringing players in.

It’s that time of year again where the rumor mill kicks into overdrive with the January transfer window opening imminently. bBut for Chelsea, this one should be more of a case of moving players on than bringing players in.

With the transfer window opening for clubs to do business on Friday (January 1), the Blues have already been linked with signing a number of big names.

The most notable of late are young stars Erling Haaland and Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund and midfielder Declan Rice from West Ham, with Hammers club captain Mark Noble reported to have said to TalkSPORT that he’s unsure as to whether Rice will remain at the London Stadium for much longer.

The point still stands that Rice could be the missing piece for Chelsea after being heavily linked with him in the summer. He’d look to be more of a rock in a defensive midfield position and, of course, can also play at center-back when called upon.

Reports claim Chelsea could be looking to Germany again to strengthen their attack after bringing in Timo Werner and Kai Havertz from their homeland in the summer. The Express claims Haaland wants to test himself in the Premier League with Chelsea reporting interest, while The Mirror claims the Blues could be in the running for English winger Sancho after a move to Manchester United did not materialize in the summer.

But with a huge squad, even excluding the players out on loan, and a massive wage bill to boot, with meaningful business notoriously difficult to do during January, this transfer window could be the perfect opportunity to focus on a clear-out.

There’s an obvious place to start. Chelsea have three first-team players not even registered in the Premier League squad: left-back Baba Rahman, midfielder Danny Drinkwater and winger Charly Musonda Jr. 30-year-old Drinkwater is reported to be costing the Blues £100,000 a week and he’s not even in the PL squad. But he’ll be difficult to shift on those wages. Musonda, 24, and Rahman, 26, would be much easier to move on given it looks like Lampard has no intention of them featuring.

The trickier bit is looking at moving on players who have featured for the Blues this season. Striker Olivier Giroud has been linked with a number of clubs as he’s not been able to nail down a starting spot despite having scored nine goals in 15 appearances in all competitions this season. With the Euros looming next year, he’ll want to nail down a starting spot in a competitive French side.

Atletico Madrid are the latest club to have been linked with the 34-year-old forward after former Blue Diego Costa’s contract was terminated with the side. He couldn’t make a dramatic return to Stamford Bridge on a free could he…

A handful of Blues defenders have not featured as much as they would have liked – Antonio Rudiger may similarly look for a move away to be considered for a spot in the German national team in the Euros, Andreas Christensen has not featured much since Kurt Zouma established his spot in the team (but seems to be preferred over Rudiger), and Fikayo Tomori has made 3 appearances for Chelsea all season, although a loan move may be more appropriate for him.

It would be unlikely for Lampard to want to move all three of those on though – perhaps focusing on getting Tomori more game time elsewhere and selling one of Rudiger or Christensen (perhaps Rudiger being more likely). Young midfielder Faustino Anjorin may look for more first-team football too after making cameo appearances in a Chelsea shirt this season.

Emerson is said to be attracting interest from a number of clubs in Italy, and although he’s currently the second choice left-back to Ben Chilwell, for the right fee he could go with Marcos Alonso promoted to deputy.

Having said that, Alonso himself is being linked with a move away too, with Atletico Madrid said to be interested in signing the Spanish left-back. It’s unlikely Lampard would be happy to let both go, as that would provide little cover for Chilwell. Cesar Azpilicueta could play there, but it seems Lampard is keener for him to provide cover at right-back.

It seems Chelsea would be most likely to move on defenders if anyone was to leave Stamford Bridge. And while Lampard said his team is having a “difficult time” at the moment, he added it’s no coincidence that it has happened alongside Hakim Ziyech’s injury.

So why spend big again in the transfer window when the key could already be in the team? Chelsea just need that key to be fit as soon as possible.