Chelsea are expected to have a huge summer ahead of them as Enzo Maresca looks to improve on his debut season with the club that, so far, has brought ups and downs at Stamford Bridge.
Maresca started his tenure brilliantly and in the first half of the campaign, some were talking about the Blues as possible title challengers. However, December started to highlight some of the cracks within the Chelsea squad and since the beginning of 2025, the side have started to struggle.
It has led to many calls from supporters for the club to strengthen when the summer transfer window comes around and that is what Chelsea are expected to do. In fact, the Blues have started early, securing the double signing of Geovany Quenda and Dario Essugo from Sporting CP this month, with the former joining in 2026 and the latter arriving in the summer.
Chelsea, though, are expected to remain busy across the coming months when it comes to incomings and outgoings at Stamford Bridge. Plenty are expected to leave the club in order to facilitate big-money signings over the summer. With that said, football.london takes a look at a possible XI for Maresca to start the season with if all goes to plan for Chelsea behind the scenes.
Goalkeeper
Many Chelsea supporters do not believe Robert Sanchez is up to the standard to be the club's No.1 goalkeeper. Maresca, however, has continued to back the Spaniard despite making a number of mistakes between the posts this season.
Filip Jorgensen has come in and out of the side but the Dane has failed to make the position his own during his debut season with the club. football.london understands Chelsea retain full faith in their two goalkeepers at the time of writing and have extremely high hopes for 19-year-old shot-stopper Mike Penders, who is due to arrive at Cobham in the summer.
Defence
An interesting one, this. Wesley Fofana's importance to the side cannot be understated. The Frenchman's absence from the start of December until earlier in the month was particularly notable but his torrid luck with injuries in recent seasons has made it difficult to rely on him.
Chelsea are in the market for another central defender and Bournemouth star Dean Huijsen is someone the club have an interest in, football.london understands. Though it will not be easy to secure the Spain international's signature. Liverpool are one of the numerous clubs keeping an eye on his situation, with the futures of Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate still uncertain.
If the Blues could land the highly-rated Huijsen, though, it would be some coup and could go some way in sorting the defence out for the foreseeable future. He has spent the majority of his time with the Cherries used as a left-sided centre-back despite being right-footed, meaning he could replace Levi Colwill in the team. For the purpose of this article, however, we have placed him alongside Colwill in the picture located at the bottom.
Midfield
Chelsea will be desperate for Romeo Lavia to stay on the pitch next season after another injury-disrupted campaign at Stamford Bridge. The Belgian has spent too much time unavailable since making the big-money move from Southampton in the summer of 2023. For the times he has been on the pitch this term, Lavia has showcased his importance with the balance he brings from being a holding midfielder.
Essugo will arrive in the summer and Chelsea have high hopes for the midfielder, with senior officials at the club believing the 20-year-old has similar attributes to the brilliant Moises Caicedo, who will remain the first-choice central midfielder. Enzo Fernandez is likely to be beside him in any 'best XI' but there may well be some serious shouts, at this point anyway, for Andrey Santos.
Santos will return to Chelsea in the summer after a really impressive loan spell with Strasbourg in France and football.londonunderstands the Brazilian midfielder will be a part of the Blues' first-team squad for the 2025/26 campaign. After a season where options have felt limited in the centre of midfield, Maresca will be relishing the chance for more rotation next term.
Attack
All the talk up until now has been about adding a new striker to the squad in the summer, but Chelsea are also looking at options for the left wing slot. In the mid-season transfer window, Mathys Tel was identified as someone who could come in and make a difference but after a month full of speculation over the Frenchman's future, he ended up moving to Tottenham on loan. Spurs have an option to buy Tel in the summer transfer window, so for now, that move looks all but off.
Chelsea have alternatives, though; namely Alejandro Garnacho and Jamie Gittens, who too were looked at over the January window. Gittens is the name that seems to excite supporters more and could well be a viable option in the summer, with the futures of Jadon Sancho and Mykhailo Mudryk both uncertain for different reasons.
As for the rest of the front line, Cole Palmer remains Chelsea's most impactful attacking player despite his recent run of form in front of goal. Noni Madueke, for the most part, has shown promise this season and has been missed over the last month - perhaps more than people initially envisaged.
Nicolas Jackson has done really well this season but there is no doubt whatsoever that Chelsea need another option. It will prove beneficial to Jackson because he will still be playing regular minutes, but will not be relied on as much to provide the goals for the Blues. And for Chelsea, they need a deadly finisher, someone who should bag at least 20 goals a season.
The obvious answer to this is Viktor Gyokeres. There is a widespread feeling that the 26-year-old striker will leave Sporting CP this summer after ripping up Portugal for back-to-back seasons. Reports claim there is a £84million release clause in his contract and that could be a bargain should he adapt to the Premier League. The trouble for Chelsea is the fact there will be a queue of clubs waiting to pounce on the Sweden international.
The No.9 market seems severely limited at the moment and the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal are expected to be assessing their options come the summer. football.london understands Gyokeres is one of several names on Chelsea's striker shortlist, with the likes of Victor Osimhen, Liam Delap and Benjamin Sesko also admired at Stamford Bridge.
Possible Chelsea line-up for the 2025/26 season
The possible Chelsea line-up for the 2025/26 season