Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca insisted on Wednesday that the club are not “a mess” despite having more than 40 first-team players in their ranks and also challenged Raheem Sterling's claim that he knows nothing about his future.
A hectic summer transfer window for Chelsea continued on Wednesday with Conor Gallagher completing his £34 million (US$44.4 million) move to Atletico Madrid, while João Félix has become the club's 11th signing of the summer window by finalising his move in the opposite direction.
Maresca confirmed that a significant number of players are training outside the first-team group having been deemed surplus to requirements, with several high-profile players in that group including Gallagher before his departure, Ben Chilwell, Trevoh Chalobah and Sterling.
Speaking ahead of Chelsea's Conference League play-off clash with Servette on Wednesday, Maresca said: “I'm not working with 42 players. That's something that comes from outside. At the moment I'm working with 21 players.
“Today's session is with 20 players, yesterday's was with 21. So the other 15 or 20 are training separately. In the United States [during preseason] We had 26 or 27 players so [are there] Chelsea players, 42, 43, yes, for sure. But they don't work with me every day. I don't see them. So it's not chaos like it seems from the outside, not at all.”
Chelsea have adopted a policy of signing players on long-term contracts (often eight or nine years) but Maresca said his selection policy would not be affected by this.
“I'm here to make the decision and think only about what's best for us,” he continued. “I'm not thinking about how many years we have on our contract.” [they have]It's not my job. If they have a six-year contract and I don't like them, they can have a 20-year contract, I don't care.
“I'm just here to make the right decision for the team, nothing more. As for the contractual situation, it's not my job.”
Sterling has three years remaining on his Chelsea contract and issued a statement seeking clarity over his situation after being left out of Sunday's Premier League opener against Manchester City.
The 29-year-old had featured in all six pre-season games before being left out but Maresca said: “I spoke to Raheem one-on-one the day before City and explained to him exactly the situation.
“I don't see Raheem after the match. He's training separately, as I said. If I sit down with Raheem, I'll tell him exactly the same thing I already told him. I don't have anything new to tell him because I was quite clear.”
Sterling is believed to be working on his next steps, with Juventus among the clubs interested in signing the England international, according to sources.
Maresca also reiterated that Gallagher's departure was due to the need to comply with the Premier League's profit and sustainability rules, which state that money raised through the sale of players developed at a club's academy can be counted as pure profit.
Some Chelsea fans chanted Gallagher's name as they lost to City on Sunday, mourning the departure of a midfielder who joined the club at the age of eight.
“It's not just Chelsea, a lot of clubs at the moment are selling academy players,” Maresca said.
“That's very sad because we all love each other… I mentioned the other day that we have [Francesco] Totti played for Roma for 20 years, it was his team and we all love that.
“At the moment the rules are a bit different and sometimes you need to sell academy players to get a 100% profit and that's the situation. Besides, the rules are there so we have to at least respect them.”
More sales are expected given that Premier League clubs and those taking part in UEFA competitions can only register a 25-man squad for use in the competition once the summer transfer window has closed.
