Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca could be left with some unhappy players (Image: Getty)
head coach may be left with some frustrated stars in the second half of the season after the west London side failed to offload some of their fringe players.
While in west London, there were several heading for the exit as the Blues trimmed their bloated squad.
Renato Veiga and Cesare Casadei joined and Torino respectively, out-of-favour starlet Carney Chukwuemeka joined on loan and Caleb Wiley cut short his spell with Strasbourg to head to Watford.
Ben Chilwell, on straight loans, but there were some unhappy players who have been left in limbo and will be staying beyond the deadline.
One of them is Christopher Nkunku, who spent the majority of the transfer window being linked with and Bayern Munich.
The Frenchman remained in the end after ‘s £65million valuation wasn’t met by any club, and he came off the bench in the 2-1 win over West Ham.
Naturally, the striker would be expecting to play more games than he has – just three starts in the – and he may get his wish after Nicolas Jackson came off injured.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall was an unused substitute for that win, showing just little faith his manager has in him to make a difference despite following him from only eight months ago.
Christopher Nkunku was linked with a move to Bayern Munich and Man Utd (Image: Getty)
Dewsbury-Hall has featured for just 133 minutes in the this season since his £30m switch and spent most of his time warming the bench when Saturday comes.
The midfielder has played a much more prominent role in the and cup competitions. But the attacking midfielder’s spell at Stamford Bridge has largely been an unhappy one and that doesn’t look likely to change in the coming months.
Aaron Anselmino saw a proposed loan switch to Marseille fall through after Felix’s move to began to gather pace, and the young Argentinian will be way down the pecking order under Maresca.
The 19-year-old has Tosin Adarabioyo, Trevoh Chalobah, Levi Colwill and Josh Acheampong all ahead of him in the first-team reckoning, and he may have to drop down a level to the Under-21s to get some minutes under his belt.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall was an unused substitute against West Ham (Image: Getty)
He could be joined there by David Datro Fofana, the £10million signing from January 2023 who hasn’t played a game for since was in charge.
The striker, 22, saw his loan terminated by Turkish outfit Goztepe after two goals in nine appearances and now faces being used by the Development Squad for the rest of the campaign unless he secures a permanent move.
There are options available, as Turkish clubs have until February 11 to register new players. It would take a permanent offer for the Ivorian to leave Stamford Bridge as have reached the maximum number of loans.
Gabriel Slonina, Alex Matos, Deivid Washington and Ronnie Stutter will be left sweating over their respective transfers.
Even after allowing the aforementioned seven players to leave, there are still a number of young players facing uncertain futures, which may cause Maresca a headache later in the season.