Double Chelsea exit remains on the cards despite Romano playing down ‘exile’ rumours

Chelsea duo Trevoh Chalobah and Marc Cucurella are expected to look for new clubs in January despite Fabrizio Romano insisting the pair haven’t been frozen out.

Mauricio Pochettino had his work cut out in the summer as he oversaw plenty of ins and outs. In the end, Chelsea signed 12 new players and allowed 14 stars to leave.

Despite their incredibly active window, Chelsea weren’t able to get all of their business dealings done. The club was seemingly prepared to lose Chalobah and Cucurella, but those deals didn’t go through in the end.

Chalobah had been heavily linked with a move to Bayern Munich as Thomas Tuchel wanted to reunite with his former player. Despite the deal falling through, the German champions remain interested in a deal.

Elsewhere, Cucurella had been heavily linked with a move to Man Utd. Erik ten Hag was seeking a short-term solution at left-back with Luke Shaw out injured and Cucurella was their original target.

However, this move ultimately collapsed and Man Utd instead snapped up Tottenham’s Sergio Reguilon. Neither Chalobah nor Cucurella have featured in the Premier League so far under Pochettino, which has added to the exit rumours.

Romano provides key update

It has been suggested that both Chalobah and Cucurella are surplus to requirement at Stamford Bridge and they could face being frozen out until January. Reports have claimed that Cucurella could face ‘exile’ following his collapsed move to Old Trafford.

While Romano thinks that an exit in January is the most likely solution for both players, the journalist has insisted that neither star has been frozen out.

“So now in the last 24 hours we’re also hearing reports that Chalobah is out of the picture at Chelsea,” Romano told Caught Offside.

“From what I’m hearing, although it’s true that Chelsea accepted that proposal and wanted Chalobah to go to Forest, there is no formal communication from the club that Chalobah is not going to play for them again.

“Sources on the player side feel that the player expects to leave Chelsea in January – the feeling is that something will happen for them to part ways.

“Chalobah still wants to leave if there’s good opportunity like Bayern. But, to reiterate, there is no guarantee that Chalobah will not play for Chelsea.

“There was also something similar being reported about Marc Cucurella, but Chelsea deny players being frozen out. Again, the feeling is that both Chalobah and Cucurella are set to look for new clubs in January if they can’t play in the next months.”

Given the new defensive options that Pochettino has at his disposition, it makes sense that the pair will be looking for a new challenge elsewhere.

Chelsea splashed £62million on Cucurella last summer, but the defender has struggled to find much consistency since. Both Ben Chilwell and Ian Maatsen are firmly ahead of the Spanish star in the pecking order as things stand.

As Chalobah also seems to be firmly down the pecking order himself, a fresh challenge elsewhere could be the best thing for his career right now.

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