Report: nine Chelsea decisions Marina Granovskaia set to make after transfer deadline following Tuchel’s arrival
Chelsea didn’t signed anyone this January but have allowed a few fringe players to leave the club.
However, Lucas Piazon ended his eight-year stay at the club by joining Rio Ave permanently in Portugal. A seasoned member of the “Loan Army”, three first-team outings, seven loan spells and a broken leg later, Piazon departed the club this month.
Outcast midfielder Danny Drinkwater also left on loan, joining Kasimpasa in Turkey for the rest of the season. Dfender Fikayo Tomori also left on loan to join Italian giants AC Milan while on deadline day, the Blues let youngster Jack Wakely head to Brighton to join up with their under-23 setup.
A change of manager so late on in the window was always likely to mean that Chelsea were not going to be busy during the latter stages of the month. Tuchel has been in place for less than a week and is seemingly going forward with the squad that he has.
The constant Declan Rice links with a move to west London from West Ham have fallen away pretty quickly since Frank Lampard was axed as manager a week ago. Bayern Munich CEO Karl Heinz-Rumenigge has claimed Chelsea are interested in Dayot Upamecano from RB Leipzig but it’s too late to get a move done.
So it is increasingly looking like the summer will be the time where Tuchel really gets to shape his squad in terms of both incomings and outgoings.
Along with the links to Upamecano, Chelsea have also been linked with a blockbuster move for Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland but for that to happen, Tuchel will have to get Chelsea into the top four at the end of the season.
But he will also have some decisions to make around his current group of players with some contracts expiring in the summer and also next year for those who could be moved on for some sell-on value.
This summer will see Olivier Giroud and Thiago Silva both come to the end of their current contracts. Silva has established himself as the number one centre back at the club and is still world class. Giroud has seen intermittent game time but Tuchel’s plans for the striker aren’t clear yet.
Giroud started Tuchel’s first match in charge, the 0-0 draw with Wolves, and his future has been a constant source of debate over the last 12 to 18 months.
Willy Caballero and Victor Moses are also out of contract at the end of the campaign. Caballero could be kept on as a back-up keeper, especially if the club decide to sell Kepa Arrizabalaga after his struggles and the signing of Edourard Mendy last summer.
Moses is currently on loan at Spartak Moscow which includes an option to buy. He has been a regular up to the Russian league’s winter break but whether they take up that option, we’ll see. Chelsea not extending his contract this month for any potential resale value says a lot.
Looking further down the line, a few players are out of contract in the summer of 2022 and if Chelsea want to recoup some money for them then this summer could be their last in the capital.
Antonio Rudiger’s contract at the club is up in 2022. Having been brought back in from the cold by Lampard and subsequently by Tuchel too, the German defender may well yet have a future.
Another defender whose contract expires next summer is Andreas Christensen, who has struggled with fitness and form problems over recent time. Unless he sees some regular minutes under Tuchel then Chelsea might be tempted to cash in.
There are two left backs also out of contract at the end of next season – Baba Rahman and Emerson Palmieri. Put simply, it’ll be a surprise if either of them remain at the club past the end of this season, let alone to the end of next.
On the opposite, Cesar Azpilicueta’s contract is also up for renewal at the end of the 2021/22 season. The club stalwart will be closing in on 33 years of age when that contract is up.
The Blues are unlikely to keep him around after that but you get the suspicion they’d be happy to see a player who has racked up more than 400 appearances and been with the club for a decade leave on his own terms.
Danny Drinkwater is also out of contract at the end of next season, having signed a five-year contract when he made his £35million switch from Leicester City. Barring a massive turnaround in form and fortunes for the midfielder, he may well not see the end of his deal in London.