Chelsea first two January transfers confirmed as surprise deal revealed
In the first confirmed deals of what may be a busy January transfer season, Chelsea has recalled young players Ronnie Stutter and Gabriel Slonina. Both players can end up spending the remainder of the season with a different team.
Stutter, who performed admirably for the Under-21 team under Mark Robinson the previous season, followed his former academy coach to Burton Albion this summer but struggled with injury and never really settled there. The 19-year-old played just three games in all competitions during his first taste of senior football and did not score a goal.
Robinson, meanwhile, was sacked within three months of the campaign.
After scoring 11 times in the Premier League 2 last term, Stutter had been poised for a breakout chance having proven himself to be one of the best-performing young players at Chelsea. He was hampered by fitness issues, though, and will return to Cobham to ‘continue his development’, the club write in a statement.
As for Slonina, he fared better than Stutter, but only marginally.
The 20-year-old goalkeeper had forced himself into the Barnsley starting XI and won an EFL penalty shootout for his side before being dropped following some high-profile errors. An injury also saw him ruled out for much of the last three months.
He arrived at Chelsea in 2022 with much excitement having been chased by Spanish giants Real Madrid. The tall shot-stopper has found life hard since, though, and failed to make much of an impression whilst away with KAS Eupen in Belgium last year.
Chelsea now have Mike Penders, 18, set to join this coming summer and he could be integrated immediately into the first-team group for experience and training purposes. Slonina, meanwhile, is slipping away from contention.
A group of players could follow Slonina and Stutter in having their loans ended, or perhaps juggled. Meanwhile, senior names could also leave the club in search of more game-time. Ben Chilwell and Carney Chukwuemeka are among them, as is Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
Harvey Vale is expected to depart, whilst teenage trio – namely Josh Acheampong, Marc Guiu, and Tyrique George – are all set to remain under Enzo Maresca. Chelsea might yet recall Lesley Ugochukwu or Andrey Santos in a bid to reinforce the midfield with Romeo Lavia still out with injury.
Ugochukwu hasn’t had the six months that he wanted at Southampton and he could reasonably swap places with Santos at RC Strasbourg if he was brought back into the fold at Stamford Bridge. Santos has been among the most impressive players in France this season.
Chelsea, outside of cutting down their squad and finding suitable destinations for fringe players or unsuccessful loanees, are not expected to be busy this month. Instead, the club are planning for the coming summer, which is also likely to be quieter than the past two years.