Chelsea are in a race against time to trim their big squad ahead of the summer transfer window deadline. The Blues must offload 16 players in 25 days according to new FIFA rules according to a new report..
Xabi Alonso currently has 41 senior players in his squad and must clear out most of them.
Alonso is expected to go into his first season at Stamford Bridge with 25 players. Also, because unlike in the past, FIFA has now banned the ‘bomb squad’ at clubs.
In football (soccer), a “bomb squad” refers to a group of senior, high-earning players who have been deemed surplus to requirements by the manager or club hierarchy and effectively “bombed out” of the first team.
Players in a bomb squad are forced to train separately from the main squad, often at different times, on separate pitches, or with the U-23/youth teams. They usually hold long-term or lucrative contracts that make them difficult to sell or loan, leading to a stalemate between the club and the players.
When teams failed to move players on, they always froze them out and made them train with the U-23 squads.
However, the ban means that Chelsea would have to find a way to offload the players they won’t need for the new season, either on loan or permanent deals.
