Chelsea has already completed two signings before the season kicks off. While there are still 30 days left in the transfer window, the Blues are more likely to end the summer period with what they have now, except some deals that are already been worked on. Chelsea finished in third place last season in what turned out to be bittersweet for the Blues’ faithful considering they got to two finals, but lost both, to the same opponent. Several players have left the club and even more are reliably linked with moves away. Andreas Christensen, Romelu Lukaku and Antonio Rudiger have left the club already. Marcos Alonso, Cesar Azpilicueta, Malang Sarr, Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech are all linked with moves away from the club as we speak.
Many of the aforementioned individuals played a significant role for Chelsea last season, so with all these changes, what can a line-up look like come the new season when everything stabilizes?
Edouard Mendy (No. 16) Goalkeeper, Senegal
Edouard Mendy is obviously going to start the season as the first choice goalkeeper. Some fans that watched Chelsea’s behind-closed-doors game against the Udinese XI claimed that Kepa Arrizabalaga looked better in that game than Mendy did in the game against the Italian side the previous day. The fact that Arrizabalaga played in that game, and not the one the day before, should tell you everything you need to know about his place in the squad. There is nothing to look forward to in the goalkeeping department as the new season commences, as Mendy will be Chelsea’s first choice goalkeeper for at least the next three seasons.
Trevoh Chalobah (No. 14) Right centerback, England
Trevoh Chalobah played with the Saturday XI in the game behind closed doors against Udinese. He is not the complete centerback yet, but for the right centerback role, he has many of the qualities Chelsea needs. He’s very quick and he has very good passing skills. He is still not good in the air, which might disqualify him from being a prime candidate in a back four. The Blues have been linked to Leicester City‘s Wesley Fofana, but it’s difficult to see them getting anything done at this stage because of how close the new season is to kicking off. It’s also difficult to see Chelsea completing this deal at the reported £80 million.
Thiago Silva (No. 6) Centerback, Brazil
Thiago Silva was Chelsea’s most consistent defender last season, both in performance and in availability. Silva was also the Blues’ best defender—and it wasn’t particularly close either. Yes, he turns 38 years old this September, but he is still one of Chelsea’s best players, which perhaps is not an entirely positive thing. As things stand right now, Silva is set to not just start the season for Thomas Tuchel’s side, but also be a staple in the squad.
Kalidou Koulibaly (No. 26) Left centerback, Senegal
Kalidou Koulibaly is reported to be on a base salary of around £200,000 per week. This means that he will definitely be a key man for Chelsea this season. The Senegalese centerback should be expected to start whenever he’s fit. The short way of putting it is that you cannot construct a starting XI that doesn’t have Koulibaly in it this season. Apart from his price tag and wages, Koulibaly is an excellent defender and distributor. Rudiger was a huge part of the Blues’ starting XI under Tuchel, as he played the most minutes and the most games since the German manager arrived. Someone needed to play that role for Chelsea, Koulibaly is in a perfect position to do so.
Reece James (No. 24) Right wingback, England
Reece James is Chelsea’s best option in the right wingback position, so there’s no confusion as to who starts the season there. There’s nothing else to be said here, this one’s a no-brainer really.
Jorginho (No. 5) Central midfielder, Italy
Jorginho has been Chelsea’s most important player this preseason. In the first half of the preseason game against Arsenal, he made more than three key tackles. Many Chelsea fans have claimed that the Blues are not playing a 4-3-3 because Jorginho would not be well protected in this formation. This is has led them to direct their ire at the Italian midfielder. In reality, Jorginho is not the one that’d need protection if the side decide to play a 4-3-3.
Against the Gunners, Jorginho was flanked by Mason Mount and Conor Gallagher. Both midfielders looked lost and out of their depth and found themselves needing Jorginho to bail them out several times, which he did. The reality is that Chelsea can upgrade in a lot of positions, but it still has players they can challenge for the Premier League title with, and Jorginho is one of those players.
N’Golo Kante (No. 7) Central midfielder, France
Who starts in the second central midfield role is anyone’s guess, but it’s between the Frenchman and Mateo Kovacic. It would depend on the kind of opponent the Blues come up against on the day. It is a known fact that Tuchel likes Kante very much, which stands to reason that we can expect the 31-year-old to play whenever he’s fully fit. Chelsea will have five substitutes available to it this season, so the Blues should be able to divide the central midfield minutes between Kante and Kovacic to make all parties happy with their game time.
Marc Cucurella (N/A) Left wingback, Spain
Marc Cucurella popped up in the rumor mill just days ago. However, it seems Chelsea is taking more than just a passing interest in the talented Brighton & Hove Albion left back. A very good tackler of the ball, Cucurella could find himself getting a bulk of the minutes at left wingback, especially if Marcos Alonso leaves. Ben Chilwell has not looked very sharp since he returned from injury, not that he was expected to. Alonso has been linked with FC Barcelona for several months, as well, so Cucurella could find himself readier to feature for Chelsea than Chilwell.
Mason Mount (No. 19) Right winger, England
Mason Mount scored again in the preseason game against Udinese to seal Chelsea’s 3-1 win. He was playing as a right attacking midfielder and not the left central midfielder many are claiming to be his best position. Mount is clearly more effective for the Blues in the forward areas as he lacks the discipline to play as a central midfielder in this system. Mount played 32 games last season and 35 games a season before, it doesn’t seem like the Englishman is going to get less minutes than he did in previous seasons, so expect to see a lot of Mount.
Kai Havertz (No. 29) Center forward, Germany
At this stage in the transfer window, Kai Havertz is all Chelsea has that can play as a center forward. Yes, the Blues also have Armando Broja, but Broja will not play nearly as many minutes as Chelsea’s No. 29. Havertz has his work cut out for him this season as he’ll be expected to produce the goals or chances Lukaku did not, and he will also be expected to produce these goals with a lot of the same supporting cast Lukaku had. Havertz and Lukaku scored the same number of league goals last season, but Havertz missed four times the big chances. This indicates that Havertz is wasteful at the very least, so a wasteful player with not a lot of resources.
Raheem Sterling (No. 17) Left winger, England
It is important that many fans know who Raheem Sterling is not. He’s not Lionel Sterling or Raheem Messi. He will mainly be getting on the end of attacking moves. This means that if Chelsea players don’t make intentional effort of getting the former Manchester City star in goal scoring positions, he will struggle, like every center forward Chelsea has had since the summer of 2017. Sterling has shown a lot of promise, especially against Udinese. Like Koulibaly, Sterling’s wages means the club intends for him to be a crucial member of the squad. Sterling represents a front three that Tuchel seems to trust more than the rest of the squad, so Mount-Havertz-Sterling will likely play more games than any other combination this season, barring any dips in form.
Who would you like to see in the Blues’ starting XI this season? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or on Twitter!