Chelsea are a club that will always attract drama, and this transfer window has certainly done that so far.
Well, it’s set to get even more dramatic as the final week of the window draws close.
Rumours surrounding potential departures of first team players Antonio Rudiger and Callum Hudson-Odoi have surfaced this week and it appears to be the talk of the town.
Blues boss Frank Lampard dropped Rudiger from the squad entirely on Sunday against Liverpool, and Hudson-Odoi has had to make do with short substitute appearances for a long while now.
Although the latter seems less likely to leave this window, Rudiger could certainly go with Lampard having five centre backs in his squad and needing to thin that out.
But Lampard remained rather coy about the situation of both players in his press conference yesterday, but he has also refused to rule out both of them leaving before the end of the window.
As reported by The Telegraph, Lampard said:
“I’m going to skirt around that question [whether Rudiger and Hudson-Odoi will leave]. It remains to be seen.
“We’re not in a period where the transfer window or market is acting like it has done in recent years in terms of how players move or what level they move at.
“Again, the competitive games have just started. I’m very open to those conversations with the players as the next couple of weeks go on. My priority will always be making sure I maintain and keep the strongest squad I can for this club but after that, of course, the individual conversations will happen within that. I will try and make sure I go into the season once the window shuts with the squad that I feel is competitive in a healthy way.
“There are decisions for me to take, for the club to make and for the players themselves to make. That’s the situation now.
“Of course, I have an idea of the number in the squad I want to make the squad have healthy competition, but not to have so many players not competing regularly and feeling like they’re out of squads and not getting the minutes they want. Those are very much conversations I will have going forward. It doesn’t mean that we’re forced in any one of those positions or areas to move players on. But those conversations will be ongoing over the next couple of weeks.
“We know in a Premier League squad and the number of games we’re going to play, we need competition in those areas, back-ups in those areas and players competing to make that position their own.
“That’s where Callum is at and that’s why I keep saying he needs to train, he needs to show in training every day. And when he gets his opportunity in games, which he will have against Barnsley, he has to show in every minute, on and off the ball, what he can do for the team. He’s had an early breakthrough in his career because of his talent, he’s had an injury and now I want to see him flourish again.”
