When the 2026 summer transfer window, slammed shut just over two weeks ago, many Chelsea fans believed that although they had a successful transfer window, they had left themselves short in the midfield department, with the departures of Enzo Fernandez to Manchester City on deadline day, and with Andrey Santos going to Manchester United, as well as letting Dario Essugo leave for Strasbourg on a season long loan, they were left with only three out and out central midfielders in, Jordan Henderson who has yet to make his club debut, Moises Caicedo, who has only played 14 minutes of action this season, and Romeo Lavia, who Chelsea fans will know all too well about his long list of previous injuries.
The Blues were heavily linked with midfielders on Deadline Day, predominantly Manu Kone and Lamine Camara, but they narrowly missed out on both due to Everton's interest in signing Florian Balogun, with Monaco unwilling to let both players go, leaving Chelsea furious that they had no time to sign a replacement. This position was something that was very sought after for the Blues, with multiple other targets being on their shortlist, such as Bournemouth's Alex Scott and Crystal Palace's Adam Wharton.
Now just four games into the Premier League season, Chelsea have predominantly used players out of position to fill their gaping midfield hole, such as Reece James, Malo Gusto, and Valentin Barco, who are all typically full backs but have been called upon to play in central midfield, whilst Xabi Alonso waits for his full complement of players to be fit and in the squad, and is hopeful for the introduction of new signing Jordan Henderson. But also, with Reece James not being pictured in training on Tuesday, that also could mean Alonso's options are now even shorter come Friday night for their game against Brentford.
This could leave the door open for youth players to get an opportunity in the squad with the thinning list of midfielders at Alonso's disposal. Players such as Under-21s captain Reggie Watson and Madhi Nicoll-Jazuli could be called up to the squad as cover, both impressing for Chelsea's youth side this season, with Watson being their top goalscorer with four goals in three league appearances, and Nicoll-Jazuli impressing in the centre of the park. Both were called up for the club's pre-season tour of Australia and Asia, and got good minutes, as well as being named as part of Chelsea's squad for the 26/27 season.
With the possible introduction of new signing, Marco Palestra, who is a right-sided defender-turned-midfielder, this could force Alonso's hand to invert Malo Gusto again into midfield. With the Spaniard surely likely to go back to his five-at-the-back formation, used in the early part of the season but not against Hull on Saturday, with Maxence Lacroix being dropped, playing Pedro Neto as a winger and Malo Gusto as a right full-back. Although they had more of the ball against Hull, it felt like they had less control, possibly down to a lack of an out-and-out midfielder to control the tempo. Regardless of whether the players in the current squad can stay healthy, a new midfielder has surely got to be at the top of Chelsea's shopping list come January.
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