Do Chelsea need to worry about squad size?

[Getty Images] Just hours after Chelsea made Morgan Rogers the most expensive British footballer in history by spending £117m to sign him from Aston Villa , they are in talks to loan Alejandro Garnacho to the Villans. But how do Chelsea have space for Rogers? And is the club risking a potentially overcrowded dressing room next season? Here are two of the key questions answered... Q: Surely failing to qualify for Europe means Chelsea have to reduce their squad even more? A: It is worth analysing the teams that achieved success without European football in recent seasons. Starting with surprise title winners Leicester City in 2015-16, only 14 players made more than 15 appearances in all competitions under Claudio Ranieri. For much of the campaign, Leicester relied on a settled starting XI in the Premier League, with only a handful of squad players making significant contributions. The following season, Chelsea won the Premier League under Antonio Conte without the burden of European football. Just 13 players recorded more than 1,500 minutes across all competitions. Similarly, Newcastle had only 14 players surpass the 1,500-minute mark when they qualified for the Champions League in 2024-25. More recently, Manchester United finished third last season without European commitments. They had 13 players record more than 1,500 minutes in all competitions, although they were knocked out of both domestic cup competitions at an early stage. So the figures suggest that carrying significantly more than 20 senior players may be unnecessary for clubs not competing in Europe. Q: Is Chelsea's dressing room overcrowded? A: Not currently. In fact, several academy players are involved in Xabi Alonso's training sessions to boost the numbers. That has been helped by the fact that goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina is currently on trial at sister club Strasbourg, while Mykhailo Mudryk remains under a provisional suspension as he awaits a ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in his doping case. Young defender Caleb Wiley is injured, while Alejandro Garnacho and Axel Disasi have not been present at the training ground. Marc Guiu, who is expected to be available for either a loan or a permanent transfer, has not been pictured with the squad either. Chelsea have generally reduced the size of their squad to around 25 players before the season begins, with the exception of the chaotic first campaign under the current ownership where the players famously couldn't fit in the training ground dressing room after the January window. However, that process makes Chelsea one of the busiest clubs in Europe every summer, in terms of arrivals and departures, which normally takes the entire window to complete. The use of so-called "bomb squads", a practice employed by a number of clubs including Chelsea in recent years, has now effectively been outlawed by Fifa following an agreement with Fifpro. If clubs fail to comply with the regulations, players could be given greater scope to challenge their situations and potentially seek exits from their contracts. As a result, clubs will need to tread carefully. Read more on how Chelsea trying to balance their books here