Chelsea board member may have accidentally shown clubs plans for two key players | OneFootball

The addition of Chelsea fan and newspaper writer Daniel Finkelstein to the club’s board when the new owners took over was supposed to be something of a sop for fans, showing they had one of their own in a position of power.

Of course we don’t really know how much sway or influence he has, and as you’d expect he’s become a lightening rod for criticism of the owners more than any sort of calming influence at all.

But his column in the matchday programme is always an interesting read, and this week’s effort has more to read into than usual. It’s the final edition of the season, so there’s plenty one can take from it.

As you’d expect it’s mainly a big positive trumpeting of the “project” that’s now in place and how well it’s all going (despite appearances, at times).

Matt Law of the Daily Telegraph has access to it already, and he’s pointed out some very interesting parts. For one, Finkelstein makes no mention of Mauricio Pochettino while he lists the positive things that Chelsea fans can be excited about. That’s telling, although one shouldn’t assume it means Pochettino will be sacked. It’s been clear all year that his future will be decided after the season is over, and clearly there is no desire to pre-empt that review.

Conor Gallagher in action against Arsenal.

Notable by their absence

Even more telling is the list of players reeled off by Finkelstein as being the foundations of future success at the club – Christopher Nkunku, Cole Palmer, Marc Cucurella, Nicolas Jackson, Noni Madueke and Mykhailo Mudryk are all name-checked.

But extremely notable by their absence are Conor Gallagher and Trevoh Chalobah, perhaps our two best players this season apart from Palmer.

There’s just no way a Chelsea fan would leave out those top performing, home grown stars unless he had some inside information they were likely to not be part of this project for much longer.