While Chelsea have not yet confirmed the squad lists officially, UEFA have updated their website with what are probably official squad lists that were submitted by yesterday's deadline. Based on that, it looks like the man we had deemed surplus to requirements for the group stages of the 2015-16 Champions League is none other than our newest signing, Papy Djilobodji.
The 23-man squad is as follows. Club-trained (Terry, Blackman) and association-trained (Begovic, Cahill, Fabregas) are highlighted.
Goalkeepers: Begovic, Courtois, Blackman
Defenders: Ivanovic, Zouma, Baba, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta
Midfielders: Fabregas, Ramires, Mikel, Matic
Attackers: Oscar, Hazard, Traore, Kenedy, Pedro, Willian
Forwards: Falcao, Remy, CostaList B: Loftus-Cheek
-source: UEFA
We had been wondering if the 18th non-homegrown player would be one of the youngsters Bertrand Traore or Kenedy, but according to UEFA's official website, they are both set to take part in the group matches. Which should mean that neither one of them will be heading out on short-term domestic moves once the emergency loan window opens next week.
Meanwhile, Djilobodji, whose desire to play in Europe was supposedly one of the big motivations behind agitating for a move to Chelsea over other European destinations, will be staying at home during our midweek European journeys. So that's a bit curious... but he's still new, perhaps a bit superfluous to requirements (it should be an easy group), and certainly far less exciting than either of the non-homegrown teenagers.