Chelsea risk entering point of no return with Trevoh Chalobah treatment

The 2024/25 season hasn't even started yet and Chelsea have already managed to leave fans fuming.

The Blues recently unveiled their pre-season squad for Enzo Maresca's first summer in charge, and to the surprise of many, there was no sign of Trevoh Chalobah. He's not injured. He's not been away on international duty. He's just not going.

The message here is a clear one. Chelsea have been seeking a buyer for Chalobah for the past 12 months because they need a quick cash injection and, after finding themselves confronted with a player whose love for the club has seen him stick around and fight his way back into a key role in the starting lineup, they've decided to take things one step further.

Chalobah is clearly no longer welcome. The owners, the sporting directors or whoever made this decision have indirectly told the 25-year-old to pack his bags and clean out his locker.

It's a massive decision which threatens to have major ramifications on Chelsea, both now and for years to come.

Chalobah joined Chelsea when he was eight years old. He's been on the books for 17 years. When he was told to go out on loan, he did. He fought for his career in the Championship and Ligue 1, dreaming that he would finally get the chance to play for his beloved Chelsea one day.

Since 2021, Chalobah has been part of Chelsea's senior squad. He's been both a regular starter and a squad player, but never complained when his minutes were cut. Just the thought of being able to help Chelsea was worth all the personal disappointment.

His reward for that loyalty? A swift boot to the rear end.

Whatever you think of Chalobah as a player, there's no denying that Chelsea are setting a dangerous precedent here. Why would anybody want to sign for a club who show such blatant disrespect to 17 years of loyalty? You can work hard, bide your time, impress in the starting lineup, create a strong bond with fans, act with dignity even when things go against you and still be jettisoned in the most brutal manner. This is how they treat someone who does everything right.

At academy level, we're already seeing the impact of Chelsea's penchant for cashing in on their own. Rio Ngumoha, one of the most exciting 16-year-olds in world football, recently decided to let his contract expire and join Liverpool, clearly fearing that the pathway to senior football that had finally been opened through the likes of Reece James, Levi Colwill and Chalobah himself has evaporated, and who can blame him? Keep scaring away the future superstars and the door will slam shut before you know it.

These are the players fans feel connected to. You can sign stars from all across the globe, but they will never create the same bond that comes with watching an academy graduate shine for their club. Their club. Unfortunately, that clearly means very little to a certain set of executives.

Those making the decisions, whether it be co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali or sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, should be facing more pressure than the players. Since the club changed hands in 2022, there have been some enormous calls made at board level, and very few of them have actually yielded positive results.

There have been plenty of transfer misses. Managers have come and gone at an Abramovichian rate. Prices keep going up despite a public pledge to show more compassion to fans, and now popular players are being blatantly disrespected with no regard for the long-standing impact their behaviour could have.

Sure, they may be running a business. Chelsea FC is a business, there's no hiding from that. However, the alarming failure to understand what it means to feel a connection to this club is threatening to explode into a serious issue - one which Chalobah's banishment exemplifies perfectly.

Chelsea are in need of some serious damage limitation, both on and off the field. There are consequences to every action, and the fall-out from the decision to laugh in the face of a kid who spent 17 years chasing a dream could be enormous.

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