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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Mark Jones

Managing Chelsea as Victor Osimhen signs, Mason Mount choice made and NINETEEN leave club

Right, this one is going to be eventful.

We've had a go at implementing the summer rebuild that needs to happen at Liverpool.

We've tried to bring in the new faces that would build on the good work done by Erik ten Hag at Manchester United.

And we've added a couple of new additions to Mikel Arteta's impressive Arsenal as they seek to turn title challenges into annual events.

But what about Chelsea?

Well, after a chaotic period has left the Blues with an enormously bloated squad overseen by Frank Lampard, for now at least, it promises to be a summer where getting players out could be just as important as getting them in.

It's time to play Managing: Chelsea , and there's a lot to do.

Saying goodbye (or goodbye for now)

Right, as of now there are 33 players who would consider themselves to be a part of Chelsea's first-team squad, which is obviously far too many. And that's before we even get to the ones who are loaned out.

Romelu Lukaku , Callum Hudson-Odoi , Tiemoue Bakayoko , Malang Sarr , Baba Rahman (still!) and Ethan Ampadu are all contracted Blues players who can go permanently though, with just Malo Gusto and Levi Colwill of the currently loaned out brigade coming back to be part of the first-team squad. Several younger players can go out again of course, but we'll ignore them for the purposes of this.

Romelu Lukaku has little future at Stamford Bridge (Antonio Calanni/AP/REX/Shutterstock)

So that's six out permanently, and I'd look at loaning out the likes of David Datro Fofana , Carney Chukwuemeka , Lewis Hall and Omari Hutchinson , while I'm not signing Denis Zakaria permanently after his loan deal. So that's 11 out.

Armando Broja is still recovering from his bad injury but a year away on loan could do him good, and while it's a shame to lose him but N'Golo Kante can leave on a free transfer after his contract expires. That's 13.

Money then needs to be raised from players on the fringes, particularly homegrown ones for FFP purposes, so I'd sell Conor Gallagher and then also look to move on Edouard Mendy and Kalidou Koulibaly . The Senegalese pair would raise a decent amount of money and neither are exactly shining at the moment.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang , Hakim Ziyech and Christian Pulisic can go too, which takes us up to 19 (NINETEEN!) heading out the door.

Meanwhile I'm sitting down with Mason Mount and sorting out his contract issue, while Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Trevoh Chalobah can stick around too. Homegrown players are important to keep.

Incomings

Right, we'll take it by position shall we?

With Mendy gone I'll bring in Leeds' Illan Meslier as cover for and a challenger to Kepa Arrizabalaga. He's only 23 and has plenty of experience for one so young. Marcus Bettinelli is a perfect No.3 and fills a homegrown slot.

Moises Caicedo would be a fine addition for Chelsea (Getty Images)

The defensive ranks are pretty much sorted, with Gusto coming in as right-back or right wing-back cover for Reece James, and Ben Chilwell and Marc Cucurella available for the left. Thiago Silva, Wesley Fofana, Benoit Badiashile, Colwill and Chalobah are then the centre-back options, and let's keep Cesar Azpilicueta around too.

Then in midfield there's Enzo Fernandez, Mateo Kovacic, Loftus-Cheek and Mount, so one more needs to be added here. Let's go for Moises Caicedo , who can complete his move from Brighton after Chelsea's initial January interest. He won't be cheap, but then that doesn't really matter to Todd Boehly does it?

Victor Osimhen could revolutionise Chelsea's attack (AFP via Getty Images)

In attack there's Kai Havertz, Raheem Sterling, Noni Madueke and Mykhaylo Mudryk, so a couple of new additions are needed.

One is obvious, with Joao Felix completing a permanent move from Atletico Madrid, and then I'd go all out for Victor Osimhen from Napoli who is exactly the type of No.9 Chelsea are missing right now. In fact he'd probably take the No.9 shirt, but is good enough to lift the curse.

So there we have it then, that means a final squad of 24 players for next season.

Too small? Too sensible?

Over to you, Todd.

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