If there is any club where squad numbers could be a bit of a mystery at the moment, it’s Chelsea.
After the huge influx of purchases last summer and in January 2023, the opposite has happened in the summer of 2023. Loads of senior players have been sold by Chelsea as they look to trim the wage bill and general squad size, partly for Financial Fair Play but also for sporting reasons.
There were simply too many of them last season and they are still selling actively.
It has not all been sales, as some players have come through the door at Chelsea, so there could be loads of different squad numbers compared to last season.
As it stands, here are Chelsea’s squad numbers for the 2023/24 campaign.
It seems Chelsea are very aware that there is business to come in both directions as they haven’t given squad numbers to any new signings or returning loanees just yet, meaning plenty of digits are up for grabs.
Squad numbers subject to change during pre-season.
Squad Number
Players
1 Kepa Arrizabalaga
4 Benoit Badiashile
5 Enzo Fernandez
6 Thiago Silva
9 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
10 Christian Pulisic
13 Marcus Bettinelli
14 Trevoh Chalobah
15 Mykhailo Mudryk
17 Raheem Sterling
18 Armando Broja
21 Ben Chilwell
22 Hakim Ziyech
23 Conor Gallgher
24 Reece James
27 David Datro Fofana
30 Carney Chukwuemeka
31 Noni Madueke
32 Marc Cucurella
33 Wesley Fofana
36 Gabriel Slonina
Andrey Santos ?
Nicolas Jackson 29
Christopher Nkunku 19
Romelu Lukaku ?
Levi Colwill ?
Malo Gusto ?
Lewis Hall ?
Players without squad numbers: Ethan Ampadu, Levi Colwill, Malo Gusto, Baba Rahman, Malang Sarr, Tino Anjorin, Lewis Hall, Andrey Santos, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Nicolas Jackson, Romelu Lukaku, Diego Moreira, Christopher Nkunku.
Basically, most of them. There’s a huge amount of numbers available for new players and more could become available very soon. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Christian Pulisic hold nine and ten but both could leave, particularly Pulisic.
More numbers than just these are available, but here are the ones you would expect Chelsea to fill before they take to the field.
The rules when it comes to Premier League shirt numbers are pretty relaxed, as any number between one and 99 is allowed as long as it is unique within the squad. There are traditions at play, as it is generally expected that numbers 1-30 will be taken up by first-team players.
Premier League players are only allowed to change their squad number during pre-season or if one is sold or loaned to another club in the January transfer window.
Clubs must submit their confirmed squad list – including shirt numbers – by a specified deadline each year and numbers cannot be changed thereafter. In 2021 that deadline was 1 September.
