Who will leave Chelsea? How Blues could cut 41-man squad

Chelsea are in the familiar position of having a large number of players on their books, with 41 senior players and only 25 days remaining in the transfer window to resolve the situation.

With no European football this campaign, new boss Xabi Alonso is keen to significantly reduce his squad - with a number of players either available for sale or on loan.

While the Blues can effectively register as many players as they want, despite the Premier League's 25-man squad rule - with under-21 and homegrown regulations covering the vast majority of players on their books - the Spaniard knows having players not involved cannot be good for squad harmony.

But, even to get the squad down to a more manageable 25 senior players, Chelsea will need to offload 16 players by the start of September.

The Blues have had players stranded in a 'bomb squad' in the past, like Raheem Sterling and Axel Disasi last season. That practice has since been outlawed by Fifa, increasing the importance of drastically reducing the squad.

Had Chelsea qualified for Europe they would have been at risk of being unable to register certain players, as was the case during their 2024-25 Conference League-winning campaign.

They are also bound by a Uefa settlement agreement for three more seasons, but European football's governing body has acknowledged they have made efforts to improve their finances.

The Blues are accustomed to this level of player trading and are boosted by the fact they have largely built Alonso's squad through the signings of Morgan Rogers, Marco Palestra, Danny Welbeck, Jordan Henderson and Maxence Lacroix, with full-back Pep Chavarria close to joining from Rayo Vallecano.