5 Chelsea players who need to secure a move in January

The more things change, the more they stay the same when it comes to Chelsea. On the field, Maurizio Sarri seems to have done a great job since taking over – he has the team ticking far more than Antonio Conte did towards the end of his reign and he’s led his team to 5 Premier League wins out of 6 games.

Unfortunately, though, the same problems keep rearing their head at Stamford Bridge. The club simply stockpiles too many players to keep everyone happy, and veterans and youngsters alike are now appearing to be frozen out through little fault of their own. While prospects like Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount have managed to escape the Chelsea system for now at least, plenty of others haven’t.

We’re still three months away from the transfer window, but these 5 Chelsea players probably ought to be looking for a move away from Stamford Bridge come January – whether it’s a loan or a permanent transfer.

#1 Ethan Ampadu

Youngster Ethan Ampadu needs more experience than Chelsea can offer right now

Dreadlocked youngster Ethan Ampadu is in a largely unique position in that he finds himself a first choice player for his international side – Wales – and yet he can’t seem to sniff a chance in his club’s first team.

It has been suggested he’ll be utilised in the secondary cup competitions this season – namely the Carabao Cup and the UEFA Europa League, but he wasn’t even in the Blues’ squad last week for their game against PAOK and Chelsea may well not last long in the EFL Cup given they face Liverpool in the third round.

Ampadu is a fantastic talent – he’s able to play as both a holding midfielder and a centre back, and during Wales’ thumping 4-1 win over Ireland, he set up Aaron Ramsey’s goal and had a pass success rate of 88.2%. And yet at Chelsea, his path is simply blocked – in midfield, the likes of N’Golo Kante and Jorginho are ahead of him in the pecking order, while Antonio Rudiger and David Luiz have been preferred in defence.

Ampadu is just 18 years old and so time is on his side, but to be able to truly develop he needs far more experience than he’s currently getting. A permanent move away from Chelsea would be too early, but a loan spell from January until the end of the season at a Championship club would probably be perfect for the young Welshman.

#2 Callum Hudson-Odoi

Outstanding in pre-season, Callum Hudson-Odoi has yet to feature in 2018/19 for Chelsea

During Chelsea’s pre-season matches against the likes of Perth Glory and Inter Milan, one name was on the lips of Blues fans – that of young England winger Callum Hudson-Odoi. He was the outstanding player throughout that short period and he also started in the Community Shield and performed well against Manchester City, arguably being Chelsea’s best player prior to his substitution.

Since the season began properly though, the u17 World Cup winner has been nowhere to be seen. Like Ampadu, the suggestion was that he’d be utilised in the secondary cup competitions but as we saw with his young Welsh teammate, he wasn’t included in the squad for the game against PAOK last week.

A phenomenal talent with quick dribbling skills and a scarily sharp mind for the game at his young age of 17, some Chelsea fans were even suggesting that the club should cash in on Eden Hazard and unleash Hudson-Odoi in the Premier League this season. That’d clearly be too early – he still has holes in his game – but he’s only going to close those holes with experience and with Hazard, Pedro and Willian ahead of him as wide forwards, that’ll be hard to find at Stamford Bridge.

Come January – assuming Sarri doesn’t start to utilise him more often both in the Premier League (probably from the bench) and in the cup competitions – Hudson-Odoi should probably look for a loan move either abroad or in the Championship. It’s too soon for him to abandon Chelsea outright but the experience at his age will be key to his future development and so he needs game time soon.

#3 Gary Cahill

Veteran Gary Cahill has slipped down the pecking order at Stamford Bridge

Veteran defender Gary Cahill is in a totally different boat to the likes of Ampadu and Hudson-Odoi in that he has all the experience in the world behind him. A veteran of 7 campaigns with Chelsea – as well as 3 international tournaments with England – Cahill has won the Premier League, the FA Cup and the Champions League during his time at Stamford Bridge.

Unfortunately for Cahill, he’s fallen down the pecking order at Chelsea and particularly now under Sarri, largely due to his age – he turns 33 in December – and the fact that like John Terry before him, his pace is now waning badly even if his mind for the game is still there.

Cahill has yet to start a game for Chelsea this season – he’s made one substitute appearance under Sarri against West Ham this past weekend – and he’s clearly behind David Luiz, Antonio Rudiger, Cezar Azpilecueta and perhaps even the youngster Ampadu in the Italian boss’s mind right now.

But evidently, he still believes he has something to offer, as recent reports have suggested that he’s ready to request a move in January in order to find first team football elsewhere. That’d be a smart move for the veteran as away from the bright lights of Stamford Bridge, Cahill may still have the ability to shine.

Rumours have suggested moves to Aston Villa or Sheffield Wednesday could be on the table, and either one would work for Cahill right now.

#4 Ruben Loftus-Cheek

Outstanding last season at Crystal Palace, Ruben Loftus-Cheek needs to leave Chelsea for good

2018/19 was always supposed to be the season where Ruben Loftus-Cheek would finally break out at Chelsea after years of threatening to do so. He had a successful 2017/18 on loan at Crystal Palace and then performed admirably for England in the 2018 World Cup, and when he returned to Stamford Bridge the word was that new boss Maurizio Sarri was finally ready to use him as a first team player.

Unfortunately, that simply hasn’t happened. Loftus-Cheek has seen the arrivals of Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic – two more central midfielders in an already packed group including N’Golo Kante, Cesc Fabregas and Ross Barkley – and that’s been enough to push him back down the ladder through absolutely no fault of his own.

Sarri has suggested that Loftus-Cheek will be given his chance, but he was only named on the bench against PAOK last week although this could’ve been due to the current injury which has knocked him out of contention for the EFL Cup tie against Liverpool. But how much longer must the England youngster wait at Stamford Bridge? Surely he did enough to prove himself at Crystal Palace last season?

Simply put, it has to be time for Loftus-Cheek to seek a move away from Stamford Bridge, and permanently this time. Like his former teammate Nathaniel Chalobah, it’s clear that due to the situation at Chelsea – largely the revolving door of managers – he won’t be given a fair chance in the first team, and it’s that lack of experience that causes the current holes in his game, primarily with stamina.

If Chelsea refuse to sell him come January, the England international must look to force the matter somehow before time runs out for him.

#5 Danny Drinkwater

Why Danny Drinkwater even joined Chelsea is somewhat of a mystery

We’re now over a year removed since Danny Drinkwater made a somewhat surprising move from Leicester City to Chelsea for a large fee of £35m, and in all honesty the move still doesn’t make any sense at all. One of Leicester’s outstanding performers in their stunning Premier League-winning 2015/16 campaign, Drinkwater has played just 12 league games for Chelsea and hasn’t made a Premier League appearance under Maurizio Sarri.

It’s also hard to see a way – injury crisis notwithstanding – that he could find himself in Chelsea’s first team right now. Sarri tends to use three central midfielders and Drinkwater’s former teammate N’Golo Kante and new signing Jorginho are clearly the first names on the team sheet right now. That leaves one more slot – and it just doesn’t look like Drinkwater can make it his own given his similarity in style to those two players.

Realistically, Drinkwater has Kante and Jorginho ahead of him, as well as Mateo Kovacic, Cesc Fabregas, Ross Barkley, and perhaps even youngsters Loftus-Cheek and Ampadu. That means that even game time in the lesser cup competitions might be lacking for him.

In reality, he should never have left Leicester – but unfortunately, since he did so his career has stalled so much that the likelihood of him gaining a move to a club of even that calibre might be tricky. Even if it involves a heavy pay cut – or dare it to be said, a move to the Championship – Drinkwater needs to secure a move, preferably a permanent one, in January. At 28 he simply doesn’t have the time to waste.