After Mauricio Pochettino signed Moises Caicedo and reached an agreement with Romeo Lavia, three midfielders might now depart Chelsea before the transfer deadline.
According to the Evening Standard, that is.
Now that Moises Caicedo has been hired and Romeo Lavia is getting close to making a move of his own, how is the situation at Chelsea? Let’s look at this…
What’s the premise?
As a result of Pochettino’s recent midfield arrivals, Conor Gallagher, Carney Chukwuemeka, and Lesley Ugochukwu are reportedly all candidates to depart Chelsea.
The Evening Standard asserts that Gallagher is being actively pursued by Chelsea despite his willingness to compete for a spot at Stamford Bridge.
Chukwuemeka and Ugochukwu are named as probable loan exits, but Chelsea’s No. 23 is the only player predicted to go on a permanent basis.
However, it’s interesting to note that the Evening Standard reports that Chelsea expects to keep Andrey Santos in the team for at least the first half of the 2023–24 season.
Chelsea should not offload all three despite Caicedo and Lavia’s arrivals
In our view, it would be a risk to offload Gallagher, Chukwuemeka, and Ugochukwu after signing Caicedo and Lavia.
Of course, Caicedo, Lavia, and Enzo Fernandez are expected to eat up most of the minutes available to Chelsea’s midfield department this season.
Pochettino still needs depth behind those trio, especially for domestic cup tournaments, so selling all three of Gallagher, Chukwuemeka, and Ugochukwu would be an odd move.
Selling or loaning one player would be acceptable, but if Pochettino permits all three to depart Stamford Bridge prior to the transfer deadline, he runs the risk of running out of midfielders.