Transfers for South American wonderkids change the balance of Chelsea’s January emergency | OneFootball

Many people (including us) said Chelsea had too many attacker players on their books for this season, but their use of a fully separate A team and B team created plenty of chances all round, and even despite so much quality in the squad they’ve been hit by enough absences now that we saw a pretty thin bench in our last couple of games.

One of the missing players for those games was Mykhailo Mudryk, who failed a doping test earlier this season after playing with Ukraine. He will be suspended while his case is sorted out, and if he’s found guilty, potentially for years after that.

Chelsea, if they want to maintain the same level of quality depth in their squad, will have to replace him. Football Insider say that it’s something they’re considering. After a strong start to the season has us into prime position to push on and stick in the top 4, it may even be that a January move comes to pass in an attempt to keep up the momentum.

Mudryk had never cracked the first team under Enzo Maresca, and his loss is more of a loss to the rotation and load management rather than lowering the quality of our first team.

Incoming starlets change the equation for Chelsea

Mykhailo Mudryk of Chelsea celebrates scoring against Heidenheim. (Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images)

The wild card with all these attacking rumours is Estevao Willian and Kendry Paez, the two young South American starlets set to arrive next summer. If they are first team ready, it feels like madness to sign ANOTHER winger in January just to fill Mudryk’s place in the B team until then.

On the other hand, this sporting structure has consistently surprised us with its desire to keep acquiring more talent, so we wouldn’t rule anything out.