6 players you forgot play for Chelsea – including £33m flop and loan journeyman

Chelsea are well known for their hoarding of players, with many spending their days out on loan across Europe and rarely playing for their parent club.

The Blues were pioneers of the strategy which has seen the club hoover up promising youngsters before sending them elsewhere to gain experience and increase their market value. Meanwhile, their productive academy has pumped out exciting youngsters, who also need somewhere to play their football.

The result is that, while Thomas Tuchel has a settled core of around 25 players in his first-team squad, Chelsea actually own many, many more. Some of those forgotten players are the results of misadventures in the transfer market while some are simply fringe players not needed at Stamford Bridge.

Danny Drinkwater and Charly Musonda are among those waving goodbye to the Blues when their contracts expire at the end of the month. But here are six other players you forgot were still on Chelsea’s books.

Michy Batshuayi

Batshuayi hasbarely playedfor the Blues since joining fromMarseillein a £33million deal in 2016. The Belgian striker has managed 25 goals in 77 appearances, but has no future in Tuchel’s side, despite netting 14 goals in 41 appearances on loan with Besiktas this season. The 28-year-old is likely to leave Chelsea on a permanent basis this summer, having spent time on loan with Valencia, Crystal Palace and Besiktas.

Baba Rahman

Amazingly, Rahman still has two years left on his Chelsea contract, despite having not played for the club since signing from Augsburg in August 2015. During the past few years the left-back has turned out for Schalke, Reims, Mallorca, PAOK and, most recently, Reading. The 27-year-old is an archetypal Chelsea loanee – good, but not good enough to make the team.

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Kenedy

Like Rahman, Kenedy is a left-back who was signed by Chelsea in 2015 and has been out on loan basically ever since. The 26-year-old Brazilian has been out on loan with Watford, Newcastle, Getafe, Granada and Flamengo. He recently returned to Chelsea, where Tuchel handed him three surprising appearances at the back end of the season.

Ethan Ampadu

Ampadu holds the strange dual statuses as being highly rated but also not needed by Chelsea. The young Welsh international, who can play in midfielder, at right-back or centre-back spent the 2021/22 campaign on loan with Venezia in Serie A. The Venice-based team finished bottom of the table following promotion and Ampadu will return once again to Chelsea hoping he might break through.

Tiemoue Bakayoko

Chelsea paid Monaco £40m for Bakayoko in the summer of 2017. That money has been completely and utterly wasted. Chelsea have been desperately trying to offload the midfielder ever since, without any luck. Bakayoko has been out on loan with AC Milan, Monaco and Napoli but still has another year left on his deal. The Blues will once again try to sell the 27-year-old this summer.

Marcus Bettinelli

Unlike the others on this list, Bettinelli is a recent arrival at Chelsea. The 30-year-old goalkeeper joined last summer – you just didn’t notice. He signed a two-year contract after leaving Fulham on a free transfer, meaning he has another year at the club, where he is behind Edouard Mendy and Kepa Arrizabalaga in the pecking order. Bettinelli has played once for Chelsea, in the 5-1 FA Cup win over Chesterfield in January.

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