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Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has revealed that he will have to sell one of his foreign players to meet the Premier League’s quota of foreign players in the squad.
A club can have only 17 foreign players who are at least 21 years old in their 25-man squad.
And with the Blues signing Didier Drogba on a one-year deal, the limit has been exceeded by one player. The club are now looking to offload Fernando Torres – a player who cost them a record £50 million – with La Liga champions and boyhood club Atletico Madrid a possible destination.
If they fail to sell Torres, then Mourinho will have to sell another foreign player with PSG reportedly interested in Petr Cech.
Mourinho said: “From the group you are expecting us to have as a squad, I have to send one away because we have one extra foreign player,”
“So from all these players, if you think all of them have to stay, you are wrong. One of them has to go.”
Player like Romelu Lukaku (U21) and Cesc Fabregas (spent eight years at Arsenal since the age of 16), although not English, fulfill the home-grown player status.
Mourinho looking to promote English talent at Chelsea
Chelsea teenagers Andreas Christensen and Nathan Aké will now be part of the first-team squad. Lewis Baker, Izzy Brown and Dominic Solanke will also spend time training with the senior squad this season. And Mourinho is trying to ensure that Brown, Baker and Solanke go on to play for England in the future.
“My conscience is, for example, to say to you that I think Baker, Brown, Solanke, if in a few years they are not national team players, I should blame myself,” Mourinho said.
“They are part of a process the club started without me. Now, we have players who will be Chelsea players.
"And when they become Chelsea players, they will become England players, almost for sure. I’m not saying we’re doing it just for English football, because it is also about us.
“At the moment, officially in the first team squad, not under 21s coming to join us now and again, we have Christensen, Aké, probably another one because I want to have one more English player.
“Baker, Brown, Solanke and Jeremy Boga. These four are not going to be in my squad because I cannot have 30 in my squad, but these four are going to work with us all season and these four are going to be Chelsea players.
“These three are English – Brown, Solanke and Baker – they have to be Chelsea players and they have to be national team players. They have to.
"And I have this feeling that our academy is bringing players to our level.
“Chelsea will have a strong team with Christensen, Baker, Brown, Solanke, Boga and Kurt Zouma in two or three years, which is the end of my contract.
“English guys or seven or eight guys from the academy – home-grown players. It’s a complete turnaround. At the moment, you look at the Champions League list and John Terry is the only one club trained.”
