Nearly 500 million USD for the 2023 summer transfer period, but Chelsea only has 15 players ready to play against Bournemouth in round 5 of the Premier League.
This summer, Chelsea recruited Nicolas Jackson, Christopher Nkunku, Angelo Gabriel, Lesley Ugochukwu, Axel Disasi, Robert Sanchez, Moises Caicedo, Romeo Lavia, Deivid Washington, Dorde Petrovic and Cole Palmer. They continue to be the team that spent the most money in the last three transfer periods.
However, in the press conference before the away trip to Bournemouth, coach Pochettino revealed that Chelsea had 11 injuries and only about 14, 15 players could play. The Argentine coach even considers being absent from the European arena a positive thing for Chelsea right now.
“Given the current situation, I think not participating in the European Cup is a good thing for Chelsea,” he said. “I think the important thing now is that we can recover and be more competitive. Of course, with Chelsea’s history we need to participate in European competition, but that is not within our reach at the moment.” Me, that’s reality. We will definitely try to return next season.”
Chelsea ‘s injury list currently includes Reece James, Benoit Badiashile, Trevoh Chalobah, Marcus Bettinelli, Carney Chukwuemeka, Armando Broja, Lavia, Christopher Nkunku, Wesley Fofana and Malang Sarr.
The latest injury belongs to Lavia – who joined Chelsea from Southampton for 63 million USD. Pochettino said the 19-year-old Belgian midfielder twisted his ankle during training and is waiting for evaluation from the doctor. In return, captain and defender Reece James – who was injured in the opening match against Liverpool – is about to return, while Enzo Fernandez can still play despite having just played with Argentina in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers in South America in Bolivia. – places with an altitude of more than 3,000 m above sea level.
Chelsea is currently ranked 12th with four points from a 0-0 draw with Liverpool and a 3-0 win over newcomer Luton Town. Otherwise, they lost 1-3 at West Ham and Nottingham Forest 0-1 at home at Stamford Bridge.