The 2024/25 campaign ended in the perfect way for Enzo Maresca and Chelsea as they lifted silverware. Fresh from securing Champions League football for next season with a 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest on the final day, the Blues then went and beat Real Betis 4-1 in the UEFA Conference League final.
The victory in Wroclaw ensured that Maresca brought the curtain down on his first season at Stamford Bridge with a trophy. Chelsea will be looking for even more silverware next term as the head coach and his team look to take the next steps in their journey together.
Planning for the 2025/26 season is already underway, with Ipswich Town striker Liam Delap on course to join the Blues in the summer transfer window. football.london understands Chelsea are increasingly likely to sign Delap and that the 22-year-old has given the west London side the green light as he prefers a move to Stamford Bridge amid interest from a host of other clubs.
Chelsea have a number of other areas in their squad to strengthen before the summer transfer window draws to a close on Monday, September 1. As ever at Chelsea, Maresca will have a task on his hands deciding on his final squad for the 2025/26 season due to the amount of players on the club's books.
At the start of February, the Blues submitted their 25-man squad for the remainder of the Premier League season and it contained 20 players (nine homegrown, 11 non-homegrown). A total of 60 names were then included on the list of Under-21 players, thus giving Maresca plenty of options if required.
For the 2024/25 Premier League season, Under-21 players had to be born on or after January 1, 2003 to be included on the list. This allowed Chelsea to name the likes of Levi Colwill and Malo Gusto on their Under-21 list rather than taking up space on the main list.
The rules for the 2025/26 campaign do change slightly as anyone eligible to be included as an Under-21 player will have had to be born on or after January 1, 2004. As a result of this, Maresca and Chelsea will have six new names to add to their 25-man squad next season as they no longer qualify as Under-21 players.
Colwill and Gusto are two of them as they were born in February 2003 and May 2003 respectively. Others who will make the step up from the Under-21 list to the main list include Carney Chukwuemeka, Alfie Gilchrist and Renato Veiga, who were all born in 2003.
Quite whether or not they make Chelsea's final 25-man Premier League squad come September remains to be seen as the trio all finished the 2024/25 campaign away from the club on loan. Chukwuemeka played his football for Borussia Dortmund, Veiga was with Juventus and Gilchrist had spent a full season with Sheffield United in the Championship.
Providing that Delap does sign on the dotted line, the striker will also have to be included in the main squad as next season he is no longer eligible to be an Under-21 player as he is now 22 years of age. With 20 players named on the main list in February, five no longer qualifying as Under-21s from next season, loan players returning and Delap and others incoming, it may well be a balancing act for Maresca when it comes to submitting his squad for next season.
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Chelsea Conference League Champions