Now made public – Chelsea have so many players they train in 2 groups at different times | OneFootball

Chelsea continue to stockpile players.

These bizarre American owners with their ‘cunning’ plan, have now spent over £1.5bn on players since summer 2022.

Eventually this whole daft Chelsea circus big top will collapse and just a case of when, not if, it happens.

In the meantime though, this wholesale purchasing of countless players has also brought into play the law of unintended consequences.

Chelsea had previously had to extend their dressing room to be able to fit in more players, as so many were having to get changed in the corridor.

Now it has gone way beyond that.

A new report (see below) from BBC Sport detailing how the Chelsea first team squad is now so huge, they actually have to have two separate training sessions.

One for up to 28 players who at this point are considered as possibles for the matchday squad, whilst another group of around 15 players in the ‘bomb squad’ are scheduled to train at a different time, these are the players Chelsea most want rid of.

Though common sense tells you that as Chelsea buy more and more players, this totally unwanted group of players will simply continue to expand as well.

When you consider that just five of this unwanted group cost around £345m (Kepa Arrizabalaga (£75m), Chilwell (£45m), Lukaku (£100m), Sterling (£50m), Fofana (£75m)), it sums up the sheer stupidity and crass behaviour that has been allowed to go on for years, indeed seemingly encouraged by the football authorities.

All of this allowed to continue by the ‘rules’ whilst other clubs docked points and forced to sell players they want to keep, as they try to compete with the likes of Chelsea and others.

‘There are 42 first-team players listed on the club website but many have not been seen in training, with manager Enzo Maresca fielding questions about their futures throughout his two-month spell at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea are, to an extent, stockpiling players.

They have spent £1.5bn on young stars from across the world and built a first-team squad that does need slimming down.

There have been between 22 and 28 senior players in Maresca’s group during pre-season, and several will need to leave.

All six overseas loan spots will be filled by the end of the summer. It is likely three players will join partner club Strasbourg in France, and others will go out on loan within English football.

Maresca clarified he had “21 or 22 players” in the training ground during his pre-match news conference before Thursday’s Conference League play-off against Servette.

There are then a further “15 players” training in a group which is colloquially being called the ‘bomb squad’ by some national newspapers, but internally is known as the ‘loan group’.

This loan group is led by loan technical coach Carlo Cudicini, with coach Ed Brand acting as his assistant.

They use the first-team facilities but train at a different time to the first team to ensure they do not impact on Maresca’s core group.

It has helped Maresca keep his first-team squad in more of a bubble, to avoid being around too many disgruntled players.