Chelsea cut loan army from 41 to 27 ahead of FIFA crackdown as they turn in massive summer profit of over £150MILLION on player trading amid transfer ban
- Frank Lampard’s policy to blood youngsters has cut back Chelsea’s loans
- Chelsea still have 27 players out on loan but it is well down from last season’s 41
- FIFA are also planning to introduce changes to the loan rules next summer
Chelsea’s army of players out on loan has been slashed by more than a third as a result of the club’s transfer ban, Frank Lampard’s policy shift and with an eye on FIFA’s plans to introduce new limits.
As most transfer windows across Europe closed this week there were 27 Chelsea players out on loan at clubs ranging from Burton Albion to Ajax.
It is a significant number and yet well down on the 41 sent on loan from Stamford Bridge at the end of the previous transfer window.
Frank Lampard’s readiness to give youth a chance has seen Chelsea cut back on loans
Some of reduction can be explained for by the FIFA-imposed ban on signing new players for two transfer windows and a deliberate effort by new manager Lampard to embrace more of the club’s academy graduates.
Kurt Zouma, Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham, Fikayo Tomori, Reece James and Christian Pulisic have all been added to his first-team squad after finishing last season on loan.
Other youngsters such as 19-year-old defender Marc Guehi has signed a new contract and Lampard wants to keep him close to his squad when he might in the past have been sent out on loan.
Chelsea are also aware of proposed changes to the loan rules for next summer.
Tammy Abraham has been added to the first-team after spending last season at Aston Villa
FIFA revealed plans last year to limit the number of loans from each club to six, seven or eight to prevent clubs stockpiling players and exploiting them for commercial gain.
The precise details are being discussed by the game’s stakeholders and a FIFA spokesman told Sportsmail on Wednesday that this process was ‘ongoing’.
Despite the transfer ban, Chelsea decided this summer was the right time to trim numbers and cash-in on some of the perennial loan players such as Tomas Kalas, Ola Aina, Kasey Palmer and Kenneth Omeruo.
Michael Hector’s proposed permanent transfer to Sheffield Wednesday collapsed because the Owls were disrupted by an Football League embargo and Steve Bruce’s sudden departure.
Lampard decided to keep youngster Marc Guehi close to the squad instead of loaning him out
Fulham tried to take Hector on loan but he has stayed at Chelsea and will be available for £8million in January.
At the same time, there has been a trend from young players opting out of the loan cycle. Daishawn Redan, a Dutch Under 19 international was sold to Hertha Berlin for a fee of up to £4.5m.
The 18-year-old striker signed from Ajax in 2017 and was very highly-rated inside Chelsea’s academy. He would have been a prime candidate to spend this season on loan but was up for sale once he made clear his desire to leave for a quicker path to senior football.
All of this, with the sales of Eden Hazard, Alvaro Morata and David Luiz, and various loan fees means Chelsea have secured a profit over £150m on player trading in the summer window, and there is more to follow if loans with option-to-buy clauses such as Tiemoue Bakayoko at Monaco are transformed into permanent deals.
Daishawn Redan opted out of the loan cycle by leaving to join Hertha Berlin permanently
However, it does leave Lampard low on experience as strikingly evident when the Champions League squads were confirmed on Wednesday.
Chelsea were unable to fill the 17 places for senior foreign players or the eight places for senior home-grown players but have boosted the numbers with youngsters who qualify for the B-List as Under 21s.
Guehi, Jamie Cumming, George McEachran and Billy Gilmour are all named and with up to 12 substitutes allowed on the bench in the Champions League this season they can expect to gain valuable experience.