Just a few months after taking over Chelsea, coach Xabi Alonso faced one of the biggest challenges at Stamford Bridge. That is managing a team that is too crowded.
The London team currently has 41 first-team players, while not participating in any European competitions in the 2026-2027 season, making the allocation of playing time extremely complicated.
In fact, this issue was mentioned by Thiago Silva since 2023. The Brazilian center-back at that time admitted that a coach can only use 11 players in each match, meaning there will always be many people who are dissatisfied because they are not allowed to play. 3 years later, Chelsea still has not found a solution, even the size of the squad is larger.
The current list of The Blues includes 5 goalkeepers, 9 center-backs and 8 forwards, not to mention many young talents being promoted to train with the first team. During the tour in Australia, Alonso also brought 9 academy players to compensate for the absence of players who just participated in the 2026 World Cup such as Reece James, Enzo Fernandez or Moises Caicedo.
Chelsea has also just welcomed Mykhaylo Mudryk back after a long period of suspension due to doping-related incidents. Alonso said he wants the Ukrainian player to integrate into the team soon after a long period of separate training.
Besides maintaining a large squad, Chelsea continues to spend heavily in the transfer market. They have invested nearly 389 million Euros to recruit Morgan Rogers, Maxence Lacroix, Marco Palestra, Geovany Quenda, Valentin Barco, Emmanuel Emegha, Denner, Danny Welbeck and Dastan Satpaev. In addition, Pep Chavarria and Jordan Henderson are also said to be about to arrive at Stamford Bridge.
However, Alonso admitted that the squad will continue to fluctuate before the transfer window closes: "We must always be ready for changes. The important thing is that the team has a clear plan, but everything can change until the last day of the transfer window.
However, he declined to disclose the number of ideal players he wants to use next season. According to Alonso, Chelsea needs enough depth to cope with injuries, while ensuring rotation in the Premier League and domestic cup tournaments.
In the opposite direction, The Blues are also actively purging forces. The team has earned more than 132 million pounds from selling Andrey Santos, Marc Cucurella and Tyrique George, while Alejandro Garnacho left the team on loan.
Marc Guiu, Axel Disasi, Benoit Badiashile, Caleb Wiley, Gabriel Slonina and David Datro Fofana are all on the list of possible players to leave. Filip Jorgensen is also on sale, and Chelsea is ready to listen to offers for Nicolas Jackson, Emmanuel Emegha and Liam Delap. Trevoh Chalobah is likely to join Como.
In addition, the future of Malo Gusto and Enzo Fernandez is still not guaranteed as both are receiving attention from big clubs. Alonso confirmed that he had talked to Enzo but declined to disclose the content of the conversation.
This shows that Chelsea's reconstruction process is not yet complete. With too many players and many unfinished deals, Alonso's task is not only to build a playing style but also to quickly balance the squad. If the personnel problem is not thoroughly solved, Chelsea will find it very difficult to maintain stability in the new season, despite owning one of the most numerous and expensive forces in the Premier League.
