£45m bomb-squad player offered chance to leave Chelsea ahead of deadline day

The £45m star last played for Chelsea just under a year ago (Photo: Getty)

A forgotten Chelsea star has been handed the chance to escape Stamford Bridge just days before transfer deadline day, according to reports.

It’s been another busy summer for the Blues who have so far signed nine players, with the addition of Alejandro Garnacho bringing their spending to £282million.

But they have also sold or loaned out 20 stars, with more still expected to leave west London before the transfer window slams shut on Monday.

Nicolas Jackson and Christopher Nkunku have managed to seal moves to Bayern Munich and AC Milan respectively, but several ‘bomb-squad’ players remain at the club.

This includes Ben Chilwell, who just over a year ago was Chelsea’s vice-captain but upon the arrival of Enzo Maresca was exiled from first-team training.

The left-back spent the second-half of last season on loan at Crystal Palace , where he put in some strong performances and won the FA Cup, but the Eagles opted not to pursue a permanent deal.

There has been little interest in the England international, who still has two years left on his £200,000-a-week contract, and it seems Maresca has no plans to reintegrate him into his squad.

Ben Chilwell spent the second-half of last season on loan at Crystal Palace (Photo: Getty)

Thankfully for Chilwell, a transfer lifeline has emerged with The Telegraph reporting that Strasbourg are now targeting the 28-year-old.

Strasbourg are also owned by Todd Boehly’s BlueCo group and have already done a lot of business with Chelsea this summer, with three players currently on loan at the Ligue 1 club.

Chilwell, who was signed from Leicester City for £45m in 2021, also has admirers in Italian sides Torino and Roma.

A move to the latter seems unlikely however as they are set to bring in Liverpool left-back Kostas Tsimikas on loan.

Speaking in his press conference ahead of Saturday’s Premier League clash against Fulham , Maresca claimed he had ‘no idea’ what would happen to exiled players like Chilwell if they failed to leave Chelsea before deadline day.

‘I don’t know. You know that they are not even with us,’ the head coach said.

‘They are training at a different time, with a different pitch. So I don’t have any idea.

‘We’ll see. When the window closes, we’ll see and we’ll decide.’