Emmanuel Petit poked fun at Chelsea and the size of their current squad, taking their latest arrival, Jadon Sancho, as a reference point.
Chelsea had another chaotic summer window, which has become the theme under this new ownership since they, too, charge in the summer of 2022. Once again, fans lost count of the numerous players that came in and those who left.
At one stage, Chelsea had a squad size of 42 players, although new manager Enzo Maresca admitted he was only training with around 20 of those, with the rest training separately. There has been a media mention of a ‘bomb squad’ in reference to the Blues, which consisted of some seasoned professionals such as Raheem Sterling, Trevih Chalobah and Ben Chilwell, among others.
The ‘Bomb Squad’ essentially are players not part of the manager’s plans for the season, as Chilwell is probably still there following the late exits of Chalobah and Sterling. Chelsea was criticised for the way they handled their senior pros, and despite the massive size of their squad, they continued to add more players.
Joao Felix, Pedro Neto, and lastly, Jadon Sancho arrived at the club, with the latter joining on a loan deal from Manchester United with the move set to be made permanent via an obligation clause set in his contract. The plethora of attacking players aside, Chelsea fluffed their lines when they had the chance to sign a winger.
Recently, Jamie Carragher urged players to stop signing for Chelsea in what seemed like a serious suggestion from the pundit. Now, former Arsenal and Blues midfielder Emmanuel Petit has poked fun, taking Sancho’s arrival as a reference point. Petit, with his comments on Give Me Sport, joked that there are no shirt numbers left at Chelsea for Sancho to choose and that there are two separate dressing rooms owing to the squad size.
Petit said, “When I saw they had signed Jadon Sancho on deadline day, I wondered if there was evenany shirt numbers left. Imagime him opening the door to the dressing room and seeing so many players – they don’t all fit in the same dressing room! At the training ground, they must have two dressing rooms, three pitches, and 12 physios.”
Considering the many players who came in and went out, there’s a funny side to it, as Chelsea does have a massive squad. However, since Maresca has already laid down the rules and made clear who his preferred players are, the Italian is probably operating on a squad size of 26 players at best.
