Mauricio Pochettino not yet ready to make final cuts to Chelsea first-team squad

Chelsea have had about 30 players our tour, including the five goalkeepers, and that, by Mauricio Pochettino’s own admission, not to mention our experiences last season, is way too much. Pochettino would like to have about 23-25 players (especially without midweek European football), and perhaps still including a new signing or two as well as players like Benoît Badiashile, who’s missed preseason through injury.

Some of the cuts that will be made are fairly obvious. Youngsters like forward Mason Burstow, winger Diego Moreira, or defenders Alfie Gilchrist and Bashir Humphreys are surely set for loans.

But others — most notably Andrey Santos — are on the proverbial bubble, awaiting the final decisions from Poch as well as the sporting directors setting the overall direction while working in concert with the head coach.

“All of the young guys, like Andrey or Ângelo, also Lesley [Ugochukwu], Casadei, all young guys, we are going to decide when we arrive in London. No-one we can say is going to be in the squad, but noone we can say is not going to be in the squad.

“When we finish the tour, we are going to sit, we are already working with the sporting directors, with Paul and Laurence, sharing ideas and we can see how we define the squad. They have the possibility, maybe they go on loan, at the moment, nothing is closed.”

-Mauricio Pochettino; source: Football.London

I would say 24-25 is indeed the ideal squad: essentially two players per position, with a couple utility players and a third goalkeeper.

If I were putting the squad together, I’d possibly end up with something like this:

GOALKEEPERS (3): Kepa, *new guy* (Sánchez?), Bettinelli

CENTRAL DEFENDERS (4): Silva, Badiashile, *new guy* (Disasi), Colwill

FULL BACKS (4): Chilwell, Cucurella, James, Gusto

MIDFIELDERS (6): Enzo, Gallagher, Andrey Santos, Chukwuemeka, Casadei, *new guy* (Caicedo?)

WINGERS (3): Sterling, Mudryk, Madueke, Maatsen

FORWARDS (2): Jackson, Nkunku

UTILITY (2): Chalobah, Hall

BYE FOR NOW: Slonina, Bergström, Cumming, Beach, Humphreys, Gilchrist, Ângelo, Moreira, Richards, Broja, Ugochukwu