Two of three unwanted midfielders could leave – but £30m man surely staying | OneFootball

As January closes in, there’s more and more interest in what tweaks Chelsea might make to their squad.

There’s a lot of depth already – perhaps too much, especially once Enzo Maresca starts playing stronger sides in the latter stages of the cup competitions. That means fewer starts to go around, and we expect at least a couple of departures in January, starting with the players who have been used least.

We already heard about a potential exit for Cesare Casadei, and that seems pretty likely to us, whether that’s a loan or a permanent transfer.

Also today linked with exits in the Daily Mirror are Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Carney Chukwuemeka. The former has played only in the B team, and Chukwuemeka hasn’t even managed that.

We don’t think all 3 will leave – Dewsbury-Hall will surely stay, despite recent links to Aston Villa. Financially, selling a player you just signed 6 months ago makes no sense. Unless you find someone willing to pay as much as you paid (and that’s likely impossible given he’s not been able to get in the team at all), you lose money on the books, and that’s not something Chelsea can countenance at the moment.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall in action for Chelsea (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

Chelsea likely aiming only for minor January tweaks

If good offers for Chukwuemeka or Casadei come in, we expect them go to – perhaps even both. But KDH will surely be kept to offer depth. If he continues to be use this little, he surely will push to leave, but that could be in a year’s time or perhaps even longer.

Overall, apart from a couple of departures, we don’t expect Chelsea to do much business in January. They’re in a good place, and don’t need to disrupt it with major mid-season changes. We all saw the damage that can do, and we’re lucky enough that we don’t need that sort of shift now.