Chelsea and manager Mauricio Pochettino have made a U-turn over the future of an "impressive" Stamford Bridge player.
Chelsea’s January window
The Blues were unusually quiet in the transfer market for the first time under Todd Boehly, with no senior signings made in the January window. Focus instead was on a number of outgoings, which concluded with Armando Broja’s deadline day loan to Fulham.
Armando Broja
Fulham
Andrey Santos
RC Strasbourg
David Datro Fofana
Burnley
Ian Maatsen
Borussia Dortmund
Despite not making a signing, Pochettino has already hinted at the need for a set-piece specialist to be brought in over the summer: "We work a lot on set-pieces. We have specialists. We are a coaching staff in charge of everything. We have a group of analysts for set-pieces After that, it is about the quality of the player. It is about the takers. We don’t have a specialist. Maybe Chilly [Ben Chilwell] is good in the delivery, but we don’t have a specialist after that.”
One player who ended up remaining in London was Trevoh Chalobah, despite links of a move to Fulham in a swap deal involving Antonee Robinson.
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The 24-year-old has been missing with a hamstring injury all season and is yet to play a game under Pochettino, but that could soon be about to change with the player declaring himself fit last month.
Update on Chalobah’s future at Chelsea
According to HITC, Chelsea and Pochettino have decided to reintegrate Chalobah into the first-team picture at Stamford Bridge in what they describe as a U-turn. The Blues told the player he could leave in January, but as we know, he remained in London.
Chalobah will be rejoining the first-team set-up under Pochettino and ‘performances will dictate whether or not he has a future at Chelsea’.
The centre-back, who can also play as a holding midfielder if needed, has made 63 senior appearances for Chelsea following loan spells with Ipswich Town, Huddersfield Town and FC Lorient. He was even praised by former manager Graham Potter, who said: “He wasn’t in for the first couple of games, but acted perfectly: trained really well, very professional, very determined. He’s an impressive character, very focused on his football.
“He’s a bit of a soldier. He’s played in all the games, we’re having some problems in terms of availability for players, but he’s stood up, stood in and he’s performing at a really good level.”
It looks as if he’ll have the chance to resurrect his Chelsea career over the coming months under Pochettino, but if he fails to break into the Stamford Bridge plans for the remainder of the season, he could be heavily linked with a move away again in the summer.