Just a couple of weeks after looking at Chelsea players who might be out of the squad in the near future, it’s time to examine those other players who might lose their places in the starting lineup after the international break. While you’re watching everybody besides England and the World Cup hosts play for qualification, here’s some material to chew over before club play resumes.
Liam Delap
Chelsea spent close to £30 million ($40 million) to bring in this target man from relegated Ipswich Town, and he has yet to score a goal in six matches for the Blues.
The mitigating factors are: He’s only 22, he could probably use some time settling into a new team, and his big frame might well pay dividends for Chelsea when they need a large body up front.
Yet João Pedro is just as new to the team, and he has slotted in just fine with four goals so far this season. The Blues’ offense just looks better with the Brazilian starting as a center forward, and that will likely leave Delap as a Plan B for the foreseeable future. You could have bought one of those for much less than £30 million ($40 million).
Alejandro Garnacho
He laid on two assists in Chelsea’s recent win over Wolves, which will help his cause. Still, the bleached-blond Argentinian often resembles the player he was at Manchester United: Often getting free for crosses and shots but lacking the end product.
He might solidify his position with some goals and assists against good teams (or, y’know, teams that haven’t just fired their head coach), but with Pedro Neto providing experience and Estêvão turning in some sparkling displays on the wing, Garnacho may well find himself seeing less of the pitch once Cole Palmer returns to match fitness.
Robert Sánchez
There aren’t any keepers on Chelsea’s roster who are obvious candidates to usurp his spot in goal, and his proponents can argue that he’s a victim of the shifting defensive lineups in front of him. The club itself has said that it isn’t interested in signing a new goalkeeper.
And yet, and yet. Last spring’s benching still lurks in the background, and media outlets like this one keep floating rumors that the Blues are courting Mike Maignan, Marc-André ter Stegen, Zion Suzuki, or some other netminder who doesn’t give the fans heart palpitations when he passes the ball to one of his defenders.
“But Sánchez won the Club World Cup!”, one might protest. Let’s all recall that Édouard Mendy won the Champions League and was named FIFA’s best goalkeeper four years ago, and the Blues still kicked the Senegalese stopper to the curb. They move on pretty ruthlessly in West London. Expect the Spaniard to remain in Chelsea’s net in the near term, then watch the business during the winter transfer window.