Chelsea Champions League Squad

Chelsea Champions League Squad

Chelsea have announced their Champions League squad for this season’s competition. The team has no real suprise inclusions, but it does have a surprise exclusion – new signing Papy Djilobodji has been left out of the club’s squad. The Senegal defender Djilobodji, 26, joined the Blues on transfer deadline day from French side Nantes for around £4m, but he has been left out of the squad due to the Blues reaching their limit on “non-locally trained players”.

All Champions League clubs were told to include a minimum of eight ‘locally trained players’ on their submitted A list, which has a 25-man limit. Chelsea have fewer than eight in theirs, meaning that as a result they were forced to submit a squad containing just 23 players.

Chelsea included all of their summer signings except both Papy and Michael Hector (with the defender being loaned to Reading. Summer signings Pedro, Radamel Falcao, Asmir Begovic, Baba Rahman and Kenedy have all been included.

Chelsea face a relatively easy group, going into the draw in pot 1. The Blues were drawn against Dynamo Kiev, Porto and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Group G.

Chelsea’s Champions League squad in full:

Goalkeepers: Thibaut Courtois, Asmir Begovic, Jamal Blackman

Defenders: Branislav Ivanovic, Kurt Zouma, Abdul Rahman Baba, Gary Cahill, John Terry, Cesar Azpilicueta

Midfielders: Cesc Fabregas, Ramires, Oscar, Eden Hazard, John Obi Mikel, Bertrand Traore, Kenedy, Nemanja Matic, Willian, Ruben Loftus-Cheek

Forwards: Radamel Falcao, Pedro Rodriguez, Loic Remy, Diego Costa