What would new signings mean to Chelsea's squad

The Premier League's homegrown rule has been in force for a few seasons now, but when the comings and goings of the transfer window start kicking in it is something that we as fans tend to forget. The Manager and the people running the club however have to look at this in detail to ensure they have a squad that they can submit to the Premier League for the coming season.

So what does the rule mean? What it means is that you are allowed a squad of up to 25 players, of that 25 players no more than 17 players can be "non-homegrown". A homegrown player is one who has been registered with an FA or Welsh FA registered club for 3 years or more prior to his 21st birthday.

A club does not have to fulfill either the homegrown slots or the non homegrown slots but it means working with a smaller squad.

Incidentally this is the reason why Nathan Ake will not be going on loan this season.

In addition to that a club is able to submit any number of players who are under the age of 21 to increase the number within their squad. So what does this mean for Chelsea? Well as things stand today our squad looks like this:

1. (HG) Ashley Cole
2. (HG) Frank Lampard
3. (HG) Victor Moses
4. (HG) Gary Cahill
5. (HG) John Terry
6. (HG) Ryan Bertrand
7. (HG)
8. (HG)
9. Petr Cech
10. Branislav Ivanovic
11. David Luiz
12. Michael Essien
13. Ramires
14. Fernando Torres
15. Juan Mata
16. Oscar
17. John Obi Mikel
18. Andre Schurrle
19. Kevin De Bruyne
20. Eden Hazard
21. Demba Ba
22. Mark Schwarzer
23. Cesar Azpilicueta
24. Henrique Hilario
25.

Players under the age of 21 who do not have to be listed:

1. Marco Van Ginkel
2. Romelu Lukaku
3. Tomas Kalas
4. Jamal Blackman

Following Jose's press conference today it would seem that we are currently in for 2 players. Those 2 players are Willian and Wayne Rooney. Looking at the above squad list both players are able to take up spots without having to sell anyone to make the squad list.

However there is a further question to ponder with regards to our squad and that is the fact that Jose likes to have 2 players for each position with 3 keepers and 3 strikers. So now lets take a look at that:

Goalkeepers: Petr Cech, Mark Schwarzer, Henrique Hilario, Jamal Blackman
Right Back: Branislav Ivanovic, Cesar Azpilicueta
Centre Back: David Luiz, Tomas Kalas
Centre Back: John Terry, Gary Cahill
Left Back: Ashley Cole, Ryan Bertrand
Centre Midfield: Ramires, Michael Essien
Centre Midfield: Frank Lampard, Marco Van Ginkel, John Obi Mikel
Attacking Midfield: Juan Mata, Oscar
Attacking Midfield: Eden Hazard, Victor Moses
Attacking Midfield: Kevin De Bruyne, Andre Schurrle
Centre Forward: Romelu Lukaku, Fernando Torres, Demba Ba

So as things stand right now as far as Jose likes his squad to be we have a full compliment of players. In fact we have 1 keeper and one central midfield player too many. Now add to that the introduction of Willian and Wayne Rooney and then things do have to change and indeed that is what Jose has said today. With Willian coming in the most likely outcome would be to see Victor Moses head out on loan and the introduction of Wayne Rooney would surely mean Demba Ba would have to play elsewhere this season.

That does leave the question of the 1 spare midfielder. There has been no mention from Jose of anyone leaving the club this summer. However there were stories early on in the summer of John Obi Mikel wanting to move away from the club. And there have been people today putting the fact that Manchester United need a midfielder that Mikel could be used in the deal to sign Wayne Rooney.

One thing is very clear from looking at the squad and that is, should we manage to pull off the signings of Willian and Wayne Rooney our squad will be very formidable indeed. The introduction of the Willian signing gives us something to ponder with regards to players leaving the club since the departure of Marko Marin and Oriol Romeu.

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