Chelsea`s satisfaction from having had a ‘good` transfer window soured somewhat when it came to submitting the squad list to UEFA: Chelsea have a lot to do to meet UEFA`s evolving criteria.
When the transfer window slammed shut, Chelsea had offloaded Yuri Zhirkov and Yossi Benayoun from the first team. A load of youngsters were loaned out (or sold in a joblot to Hamburg). Replacing them were some very young players who went immediately into the first-team: Oriol Remeu, Romelu Lukaku, Juan Mata, and relative veteran Raul Meireles. It looked like Chelsea had used the mercato to freshen up the squad as a whole, whilst also holding on to players that we`d prefer not to lose too quickly.
Except when it came to submitting the squad list to UEFA for the Champions League it became clear that there was much work still to do. The UEFA criteria effectively change every year in an attempt to persuade clubs to develop their own players and to penalise those who (like Chelsea) don`t. Someone didn`t do their homework during the preparation and the mercato, leaving Chelsea in a ridiculous position.
Clubs can submit a list of 25 players in their A-list. But that list has to contain a maximum of 17 non-homegrown players. Chelsea were unable to find 8 homegrown players, submitting only 5. The squad that Chelsea have sent to UEFA therefore contains 22 names.
In the list of 8 ‘homegrown players`, a maximum of 4 can be considered as ‘association trained`. For Chelsea, that list consists of Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, Ross Turnbull and Daniel Sturridge. The fifth, and our only true homegrown player, is John Terry.
Of the 17 non-homegrown, Chelsea had to make some notable sacrifices. One of Chelsea`s star signings, Romelu Lukaku, has had to be left off from the list. The reason? Chelsea have already 5 forwards (Drogba, Kalou, Torres, Anelka, Sturridge) but the Blues couldn`t include Ryan Bertrand as an additional ‘club-trained` player. Bertrand, who counts as ‘association-trained`, is left off the list despite signing from Chelsea when he was 15. Since Chelsea were without an additional left-back, they registered Paulo Ferreira instead as cover. The player sacrificed, we imagine much to his chagrin, is Lukaku.
Not included in the squad: Michael Essien, who is still in rehabilitation for knee ligament damage and won`t be ready for any of the group stage matches. Chelsea are entitled to an additional list of players, the B-list. The number on this B-list is ‘unlimited` but it can only consist of players who were born after January 1st 1990 AND have been ‘eligible to play for the club concerned for any uninterrupted period of two years since his 15th birthday by the time he is registered with UEFA.` In short, the B-list is for a club`s youngsters, but not recently-signed youngsters (or, in Chelsea`s case, players who have spent most of their career on loan). This is why Ryan Bertrand couldn`t even be included on this list, but Josh McEachran and even Nathaniel Chalobah are. In fact, Chelsea have included a large number of youngsters on their B-list: Jamal Blackman, Billy Clifford, Conor Clifford, Todd Kane, Aziz Deen Konteh, Jacob Mellis, Aliu Djalo, Marko Mitrovic and Philipp Prosenik. Amongst others.
The slight silver lining is that this list is for the group stage only, Chelsea will be able to submit a new list for each of the subsequent stages in the competition (should we get through). If players are sold, suspended, injured or going to be absent for the African Cup of Nations, Chelsea will be able to change the lists around.
The net result of this (whereby Chelsea`s second most expensive signing of the summer has to be left off the list) is, frankly, an indictment of Chelsea`s transfer policy. It would be tempting to level the cause of this debacle at our Director of Sport (because squad management and checking the criteria for squad registration with UEFA must be the basic elements of a Director of Sport`s job description). Certainly Michael Emanelo deserves to take some of the blame here.
However, the problem here is more deep-rooted, and has to do with squad management as a whole rather than transfer policy only. Emanelo, who has barely been at his post for half a year, cannot be entirely blamed for this.
Chelsea`s squad management has stayed broadly where it is, at the same time as the rules in which we operate are changing. UEFA announced the modifications of the squad registration rules some time ago, as part of Michel Platini`s reforms. They were public, Chelsea knew about them well in advance. Despite the fact that participation in the Champions League is so important for Chelsea, the club has not evolved to meet these new rules.
In summary the rules are intended to drive down the reliance on players purchased, and to give a greater prominence to players developed within the club. The number of non-homegrown players allowed is dropping, at the same time as the premium, within the total squad list of a maximum of 25, for players that are ‘homegrown`. The definition of homegrown is also changing further: it`s not even enough to be an English player (in Chelsea`s case), these players really have to have been brought up through the club, playing for at least 3 seasons during the ages of 15 and 21. This means that we can`t buy ready-made youngsters, nor can we buy youngsters and farm them out to other clubs on loan. The less such players we have brought through the ranks, the more damaging it is going to be for Chelsea. Ryan Bertrand is a case in point: he`s been with Chelsea since age 15, but he`s been out on loan so much that he doesn`t even meet the conditions of having been registered with Chelsea for 3 seasons between ages 15 and 21.
And these rules are only going to get tougher. We can expect that the number of non-homegrown players gradually to decrease further, and the number of ‘club-trained` players required to increase.
What is worrying is that Chelsea`s ability to comply with these rules is still some way into the future. Unless the players on the B-list earn a promotion into Chelsea`s first-team squad, we are unlikely to be able to able to round up 4 club-trained players. Josh McEachran will be allowed to graduate to becoming a club-trained player from next year, but the tendency to send genuinely exciting players on loan reduces the ability to conform to the club-trained criteria. There are rumours that McEachran could be sent out on loan. Surely the need to meet the UEFA criteria must answer whether loaning him out is a good idea.
The lessons for Chelsea are clear: loaning players is not the answer. The club is going to need to take the plunge and to give players first-team opportunities. In fact, there will be a premium on not sending out these players. Even if Chelsea were to stop the loan systems, that will only start yielding rewards in 3 years` time.
Frankly that we are in a situation now whereby we are not able to meet a minimum of criteria for UEFA and have to submit a list 3 short is quite an indictment in the long-term. We all remember Frank Arnesen declaring that Chelsea should be capable of producing one John Terry per season. Well it still hasn`t happened, and our inability to manage this is hurting us. Already.
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