Chelsea keep, loan or sell? Special final roster cut edition

Chelsea's Sierra Leonean-born English midfielder Trevoh Chalobah runs with the ball during the pre-season friendly football match between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge in London on August 4, 2021. - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. (Photo by Glyn KIRK / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. (Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images) /

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Chelsea’s Sierra Leonean-born English midfielder Trevoh Chalobah runs with the ball during the pre-season friendly football match between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge in London on August 4, 2021. (Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images) /

3. Keep

In order for any returning members of the loan army to make the first team for the 2021/22 campaign, they needed to be special. It certainly helps that the Blues are offloading a plethora of academy wonderkids and not bringing in signings at the moment, but even if they were to, the two individuals listed under ‘keep’ would still make the side.

The first is quite possibly the most impressive player this preseason, Trevoh Chalobah. Chalobah returned to Cobham full of energy and confidence after helping Lorient remain in Ligue 1 a year after its promotion. The Englishman was one of the standout performers during his initial top flight loan and even caught the eye of Tuchel during his time as Paris Saint-Germain manager. Chalobah has played more minutes than any other outfield player (86′ and 80′ respectively) in the last two contests and holding his own each time. Chalobah lined up in a back three, both as the centermost defender and a right centerback.

Chalobah brings a lot more than just defensive ability to this side though. He is also able to play as a defensive midfielder and he even dabbled at right back briefly against Spurs. It’s this positional flexibility that Tuchel will come to appreciate when his side is playing in six competitions (Super Cup, Premier League, FA Cup, Carabao Cup, Champions League and Club World Cup) throughout the course of the lengthy season. Chalobah has earned his spot against all odds this preseason.

The next player to make the ‘final cut’ of sorts is Ruben Loftus-Cheek. There were a lot of questions regarding Loftus-Cheek’s fitness and quality after his disaster of a loan to Fulham. The Cottagers were relegated and unlike Conor Gallagher for West Brom, Loftus-Cheek didn’t manage to stick out in a sloppy team. He showed us all glimpses of the 2018 World Cup super sub and Maurizio Sarri’s key midfielder from the 2018/19 season during games against Arsenal and Spurs. He’s still got a ways to go to reach those levels consistently, but acting as the fourth midfielder on the Blues’ roster would put little pressure on him while supplying him with the minutes he needs.

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