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44 Chelsea players who left in summer window - and how they've fared so far

mirror.co.uk, 19 September 2022, 11:06
Premier League hopefuls Chelsea have said goodbye to a remarkable 44 players this summer and Mirror Football analyses the progress made by a dozen of those stars

It was a summer of change at Chelsea, as a consortium led by American Todd Boehly purchased the Premier League club and invested more than £250million into the squad.

Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly, Marc Cucurella, Denis Zakaria, Cesare Casadei, Wesley Fofana, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and others were added to Thomas Tuchel's side before the German was sacked and succeeded by Graham Potter earlier this month.

The new additions coincided with several departures, with various members of the Champions League-winning squad from 2021 saying goodbye to Chelsea supporters. But how have those big-name players fared since their respective transfers? Let's find out.

Timo Werner

Werner was flogged back to RB Leipzig for for £25m in August, just two years after Chelsea spent £47.5m on the Germany international. The 26-year-old struggled during his time at Stamford Bridge, scoring just 10 goals in 56 Premier League appearances.

Werner has made a decent start to life back in Germany, scoring four goals and providing three assists in nine appearances. Yet it's important to note that three of those goals came against fourth-tier side Teutonia Ottensen in a cup tie. The striker's record of one goal in six Bundesliga outings is less impressive.

Emerson Palmieri

Emerson joined Chelsea in the summer of 2018 and went on to pick up Champions League, Europa League and European Super Cup winners' medals, yet the Italy international never really made an impact at Stamford Bridge - playing 71 games in total.

After spending last season on loan at Lyon, the 28-year-old was sold to West Ham in August for £15m and has since played six games, scoring in their 3-1 Europa Conference League win against FCSB. Worryingly for the Hammers, they've picked up just four points from their opening seven Premier League fixtures this season.

Kenedy

After playing 30 games in seven years, Kenedy finally left Stamford Bridge this summer. The 26-year-old Brazilian spent most of his Chelsea career away from the club, enjoying loan spells at Watford, Newcastle, Getafe, Granada and Flamengo.

Kenedy was sold to Real Valladolid for an undisclosed fee on deadline day and has played just 14 minutes of La Liga football so far, coming on during their 2-1 defeat to Girona. He was left on the bench for Valladolid's most recent game, a 1-0 defeat to Cadiz.

Michy Batshuayi

Batshuayi was another Chelsea stalwart to finally complete a permanent move in the summer, joining Fenerbahce on deadline day. The Belgium international, 28, played just 77 games for Blues after arriving from Marseille in the summer of 2016.

Batshuayi's time at Stamford Bridge was littered with loan spells - playing for Borussia Dortmund, Valencia, Crystal Palace and Besiktas. He's made a decent start to his Fenerbahce career, scoring on his debut against Dynamo Kyiv in the Europa League.

Billy Gilmour

Gilmour is perhaps one of the most unluckiest players in Premier League history. The Scotland international, 21, was highly rated at Stamford Bridge but decided to join Brighton in a £9m on deadline day to play under Potter at the Amex.

Yet just eight days after that transfer, Potter left Brighton to succeed Tuchel in a bizarre sequence of events. Gilmour will be hoping to get a good run in the team under Roberto De Zerbi, who was confirmed as the new Seagulls manager on Sunday evening.

Marcos Alonso

Cucurella's arrival at Stamford Bridge signalled the end for Alonso, who completed a deadline day move to Barcelona after playing 212 games for the Blues. The nine-cap Spain international, 31, won the Premier League, FA Cup, Champions League, Europa League, European Super Cup and Club World Cup during his time in London.

Alonso was left on the bench for Barcelona's most recent La Liga game against Elche after playing just 12 minutes against Cadiz earlier this month. He did start and finish the 2-0 Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich on Tuesday, but it appears the veteran may struggle to get ahead of teenager Alex Balde in the pecking order this season.

Ross Barkley

Although Chelsea didn't sell Barkley, he was a high-profile departure. The England international, 28, joined the Blues from Everton in January 2018 and, while he did play 100 games for the club, he never quite made the grade at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea terminated Barkley's contract in August to allow him to join Ligue 1 side Nice. He's yet to pull up any trees in France, making just two substitute appearances to date.

Antonio Rudiger

Rudiger was another player released by Chelsea in the summer, albeit reluctantly. The Blues failed to agree a new contract with the Germany international, 29, and he went on to sign for European champions Real Madrid - ending his five-year spell at Stamford Bridge.

Rudiger's time at the Bernabeu hasn't gone quite to plan. He's started just threee La Liga games and is often shoved in at right-back by manager Carlo Ancelotti. Yet the defender did help Real beat Eintracht Frankfurt to win the European Super Cup in August.

Andreas Christensen

Chelsea were also forced to release Christensen at the start of the summer due to his contract expiring. The Denmark international, 26, came through the ranks at Stamford Bridge and played 161 games for the first team, winning five trophies.

Yet he decided to join Barcelona after leaving Chelsea to challenge Rudiger for the La Liga title. He made a good start to life in Spain - starting Barcelona's first two La Liga games on the season - but has been left on the bench for their last three league outings.

Danny Drinkwater

Drinkwater's nightmare Chelsea spell finally came to an end in June when his contract expired. The England international, 32, played just 23 games in five years at Stamford Bridge, spending time on loan at Burnley, Aston Villa, Turkish side Kasımpasa and Reading.

Drinkwater is yet to find a club since leaving Stamford Bridge. He is eligible to sign a deal outside of the transfer window as a free agent.

Romelu Lukaku

Chelsea haven't sold Lukaku... just yet. The £97.5m striker re-joined Inter Milan on loan in July after an underwhelming campaign at Stamford Bridge, scoring just eight Premier League goals.

Lukaku, 29, has scored one goal and provided one assist in his three Serie A appearances for Inter this term but is currently out of action with a muscle injury. Despite this, Inter are already believed to be in talks with Chelsea to extend his loan by a further 12 months - so we can assume it's going pretty well for the Belgium international at the San Siro.

Callum Hudson-Odoi

Hudson-Odoi has also completed a loan move from Chelsea to Bayer Leverkusen after playing just 15 Premier League games last season. The England international, 21, has plenty of ability and will be keen to prove himself in the Bundesliga this season.

Hudson-Odoi has started all of Leverkusen's last four fixtures and looks set to play a key role in their campaign. This could be the making of the youngster's career.

Other departures

In total, Chelsea said goodbye to a whopping 44 players in the summer! Here's the lowdown on what the other 32 are up to...

George McEachran : The younger brother of MK Dons star Josh and U17 World Cup winner remains a free agent after his contract expired.

Thierno Ballo : The Austria youth international never made a senior appearance for the Blues and joined Austrian side Wolfsberger when his contract expired in June.

Karlo Ziger : The 21-year-old goalkeeper was granted a free transfer and agreed to join Croatian outfit Gorica, sitting on the bench in eight league games this term.

Jake Clarke-Salter : The U20 World Cup winner, now 24, is currently nursing a hamstring injury after completing a free transfer to Championship side QPR.

Charly Musonda : The former Belgium youth international joined Spanish second tier side Levante on a free transfer and made his debut in Friday's 1-0 defeat to Cartagena.

George Nunn : The young striker joined Derby's academy on a free transfer and has scored once in his first four Premier League 2 appearances this term.

Josh Tobin : The 18-year-old was released by Chelsea and is yet to find a new club.

Matt Miazga : The American defender was granted a free transfer and has walked into FC Cincinnati's first team, starting their last seven MLS games and scoring twice. He even captained them in their 1-1 draw against New York City earlier this month.

Edwin Andersson : The Swedish winger signed for Stoke's academy on a free transfer and has made two Premier League 2 outings since the move.

Luke Badley-Morgan : Like Andersson, the 18-year-old defender joined Stoke's academy.

Tyler Dibling : The 16-year-old playmaker joined Chelsea's academy from Southampton at the beginning of the summer, only to return to his previous club in September.

Xavier Mbuyamba : The 20-year-old defender joined Dutch side Volendam for an undisclosed and has started two Eredivisie games so far.

Lucas Bergstrom : The young goalkeeper joined Peterborough on loan and has played all of their nine League One fixtures this season.

Sam McClelland : The Northern Ireland youth international is currently on loan at Barrow, where he's made nine League One appearances to date.

Ethan Wady : The USA youth international is currently the second-choice goalkeeper at National League side Woking after completing a season-long loan move.

Prince Adegoke : The young goalkeeper joined Welling United on loan in July but returned to Chelsea's academy earlier this month.

Jamie Cumming : The 23-year-old goalkeeper re-joined MK Dons on loan - playing all of their nine League One games this season - after spending the second half of last season at Stadium:MK. He's previously enjoyed loan spells at Stevenage and Gillingham.

Nathan Baxter : The English stopper (how many goalkeepers do Chelsea have?) re-joined Hull on loan - starting their recent 3-0 defeat to Swansea - after spending last season with the Championship side.

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