Ranking all Chelsea loan players in 2023/24 | OneFootball

The thing about Chelsea under Todd Boehly is that they seem to enjoy spending big money on shiny new players. This has resulted in a bloated squad, however.

During Graham Potter’s reign, for instance, The Athletic noted that ‘there were so many players, some had to change in the corridor’. If you can't sell unwanted football, the next best thing is to loan them out.

With the January transfer market of 2024 now closed, the Blues have currently got no less than 15 players out on loan – not including Lewis Hall who moved to Newcastle United in August 2023 on loan with an obligation to buy in a deal worth up to £35m. The likes of Diego Moreira and Cesare Casadei are also left off the list after returning to west London, having spent the first half of the campaign out on loan.

With that being said, it's hard to keep track of them all but GIVEMESPORT has endeavoured to do just that. And so, here are the latest rankings on how all of Chelsea's loan players are getting on.

All starts are from Transfermarkt (as of 12/02/24) unless otherwise stated.

15 Andrey Santos

Strasbourg

It's safe to say Andrey Santos did not have the sort of impact at Nottingham Forest that either he or Chelsea would have been hoping for. The Blues paid £16m to sign the young Brazilian from Vasco da Gama but he's yet to make his senior debut for the club.

In the first half of the 2023/34 season, he played just twice for Forest before his loan deal was cut short in the winter. Things will hopefully get better for him in France under Patrick Vieira, but the 19-year-old is yet to get on the pitch for Strasbourg – away with the Brazil U23s at the CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament – so we can't really judge him just yet.

14 Charlie Webster

Charlie Webster joined Dutch club Heerenveen in the summer on a season-long loan but things got off to a slow start for the 20-year-old. Indeed, in just his second Eredivisie outing – his first start – he picked up a straight red card for a late lunge.

His appearance in the first team have been sporadic after that incident, with Webster not trusted to start another league game since. In total, he has played seven times for the senior team, grabbing just one goal. That he's played three times for the U21s shows you how little impact he has made as a first-team player.

13 Armando Broja

Fulham

Armando Broja played 13 times in the Premier League before moving to rivals Fulham in January on loan for the rest of the season. He scored just once in that time, as well as bagging one other strike in the FA Cup, so he will be hoping to make a better impact at Craven Cottage.

Seeing as the 22-year-old striker has played just twice for Fulham so far – both roughly 15-minute cameos off the bench vs Burnley and Bournemouth – it would be unfair to judge him too harshly just yet. Even so, he has failed to make much of an impact in either game so can't rank any higher right now.

12 Tino Anjorin

Portsmouth

Now 22 years of age, Tino Anjorin is one of the more experienced Chelsea youngsters – even winning the English Youth League in 2018 with the U18s. He spent time out on loan at both Lokomotiv Moscow and Huddersfield Town before joining Portsmouth at the start of the season.

Anjorin featured regularly for the League One club in the early stages of the season, scoring two goals in nine games. Unfortunately, though, he picked up an injury and the midfielder has not been fit enough to play again since November.

11 Gabriel Slonina

KAS Eupen

Gabriel Slonina joined Chelsea in the summer of 2022, arriving from Chicago Fire. He was immediately loaned back to the MLS club before arriving in west London that January. The American played between the sticks for the Blues' U21s briefly but has spent the entire season at KAS Eupen.

Slonina has played every game for the Belgian top-flight side, keeping only three clean sheets in 23 games and conceded 43 times in that period. Unfortunately, Eupen are in the relegation zone but at least the goalkeeper is getting plenty of senior experience.

10 Mason Burstow

Mason Burstow actually played twice off the bench in the Premier League for Mauricio Pochettino's side during the opening weeks before being sent off on loan to Sunderland. The 20-year-old has found like in the Championship difficult, though.

Having made 15 appearances for the Black Cats – including 10 starts in the league – he has scored just once and registered only a solitary assist. But having started two of Sunderland's last three matches, scoring his only goal during this time, perhaps he'll have a stronger end to the season.

Bristol Rovers

Harvey Vale has been an exciting talent at Chelsea for some time now making his senior debut way back in 2021. He spent last term out on loan but only hung around at Hull City for half a season.

This time around he's at Bristol Rovers in League One and things seem to be going well enough. Often playing at left-back or in a more advanced left-sided role, the Englishman has played in all but one of 28 league games since arriving. With a total of 35 outings in all competitions, the 20-year-old has chipped in with three goals and five assists.

8 Omari Hutchinson

Ipswich Town

It came as a big blow to the Arsenal academy when talented prospect Omari Hutchinson ditched north London for Stamford Bridge in 2023. But the 20-year-old is yet to really make the step up to Premier League football, with just two senior Chelsea appearances to his name in total.

He joined Ipswich Town in the summer and has been toiling in the Championship all season. Four goals and three assists across 34 outings in all competitions is reasonable but Hutchinson would have been hoping to start more games. In 20 of his 27 league appearances, he's been used off the bench as a substitute but did at least net a 93rd-minute equaliser as a substitute against West Brom in his latest appearance.

7 Bashir Humphreys

Swansea

Picked up from Reading as a youngster, Bashir Humphreys has been at Chelsea since U15 level. Now 20, he has played twice for the senior side making his debut against Manchester City in January 2023 during the FA Cup third round.

He moved to SC Paderborn on loan briefly last term to get some experience in Germany's 2. Bundesliga and has followed that up with a season-long move to Swansea. It's been a successful spell for the centre-back in Wales, as he's become a regular for the Swans. He has played 22 Championship games so far, earning a respectable average 6.81 SofaScore match rating, when the team's is at 6.87.

6 Angelo Gabriel

Strasbourg

Angelo is one of those talented young Brazilians to come through Santos and end up in Europe. He joined Chelsea in 2023 for around £13m but was immediately loaned out to Strasbourg. Although the 19-year-old winger is yet to score for the French team, his move is going reasonably well.

Angelo has picked up four assists in 19 Ligue 1 outings, starting ten of those matches. What's more, he was also named Strasbourg's Player of the Month and the league's Young Player of the Month during September. Chelsea must be happy enough with his progress at the club as they've sent Santos to join him in France.

5 Hakim Ziyech

Galatasaray

Hakim Ziyech is one of the more familiar names on this list, having played 107 times for the Blues since his arrival from Ajax in 2020. He started only six Premier League games last term so it's no shock that he pushed for an exit in the summer. He was actually supposed to go to Paris Saint-Germain last winter but that fell through in dramatic circumstances.

He ended up at Galatasaray instead but has struggled – due to injury and absence due to AFCON – to make a huge impact in Turkey. An average SofaScore rating of 7.06 in the league shows that he's done when fit enough to play. His best moment came in the Champions League as he bagged two free-kicks vs Manchester United, embarrassing Andre Onana in the process.

4 Kepa Arrizabalaga

It was slightly odd that Chelsea let both Kepa Arrizabalaga and Edouard Mendy leave in the same money but when Real Madrid came calling – after Thibaut Courtois tore his ACL – the Spaniard packed his bags. Life in La Liga started well for Kepa too.

Indeed, he started 10 league games in a row after arriving, picking up five clean sheets and losing only once, before getting injured. While he is now fit again, he's no longer a guaranteed starter and has had to share his minutes with Andriy Lunin of late.

3 David Datro Fofana

Burnley

David Datro Fofana joined Chelsea in January 2023, playing four times for the Blues in the remainder of that season and then ahead of the 2023/24 campaign was shipped out to Union Berlin. Two goals in 17 games wasn't particularly encouraging so that deal was cut short this winter.

It's too early to know yet but that looks to have been a wise decision. After all, it took Fofana just two outings at Burnley to match his goalscoring tally in Germany. Indeed, the striker bagged a brace in a 26-minute cameo against Fulham, while he also picked up an assist on debut for the Clarets away at Manchester City. Three goal contributions in his first 57 minutes for the club certainly was promising, although he did then miss a few big opportunities at Anfield in the away defeat against Liverpool.

2 Ian Maatsen

Borussia Dortmund

Like all the others on this list who only moved in January, it would be unfair to rush to any judgment of Ian Maatsen right now, but the early signs are positive for him in Germany. The left-back was key for Burnley last year as they gained promotion from the Championship, and then played 12 times for Chelsea in the Premier League before being moved off to Borussia Dortmund this winter.

He's since made five appearances in the Bundesliga, starting on each occasion. What's more, he's won four and drawn the other, so has yet to lose for his new club, while also picking up two assists in that time. With Dortmund keeping four clean sheets over that five-game period, it's fair to say his first few weeks in Germany have been a success – especially as he was named Bundesliga Rookie Of The Month.

1 Romelu Lukaku

Roma

In many ways, it's odd to even include Romelu Lukaku. While he is still technically a Chelsea player, it's hard to see him having any kind of a future at Stamford Bridge. Costing almost £100m, the Belgian will no doubt go down as one of the biggest flops in history.

In Italy, at least, things look a little brighter. Lukaku has bagged 15 goals and picked up two assists in 29 games for Roma but that wasn't enough to save Chelsea icon Jose Mourinho from the sack. Even so, the 30-year-old has shown this term that he can still be trusted to deliver the goods fairly consistently – even if he's not quite the force of nature he was once.