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Since being taken over by Roman Abramovich in 2003, Chelsea Football Club has invested heavily in infrastructure and personnel. The club has built a strong squad with the Russian oligarch's financial backing and has also developed an extremely successful youth academy that has overseen the development of several highly talented young players.
Unfortunately, a large majority of these players have never played for the Chelsea first-team and have instead been sent out on loan every few months to a new location. Andreas Christensen is the only youth academy player to have successfully transitioned into a regular first-team player in the past decade.
Chelsea currently have so many players out on loan that if their entire first-team squad were to be debilitated for a week by chickenpox, they could recall a 23-man squad and still have players who would be left out.
For many of these players, a spot in Chelsea's squad has become almost inconceivable and their only chance of playing regular football is to look for pastures new.
That being said, a number of older players should also consider moving away from Stamford Bridge in search of more game time. The following is a list of 5 players who need to engineer a move out of Chelsea before it's too late.
#5 Kurt Zouma
For a season or two after he moved to London, it seemed like Kurt Zouma was destined to fill the vacancy that John Terry would leave behind upon retiring. The smiling French centre-back quickly endeared himself to Chelsea supporters by putting in some stellar performances during Chelsea's title-winning 2014/15 season.
Zouma played particularly well in matches against Manchester City and Manchester United, where he contained the likes of Sergio Aguero and Marouane Fellaini quite effectively.
Chelsea's next season was significantly worse and the Blues seemed to be in free-fall at one point, almost entering the relegation zone in November. However, Kurt Zouma was one of a handful of Chelsea players whose performances were not terrible, and the defender managed to work his way into the first-team.
The youngster played regularly for a while until an ACL injury sidelined him for the better part of nine months.
Since the injury, Zouma has struggled to make his way back into the Chelsea first-team and he is currently on loan at Stoke City. The defender has shown great maturity in his performances for Stoke and has proved that he hasn't lost a yard of pace after the injury.
In spite of his positive recovery from a potentially career-ending injury, the development of Andreas Christensen has made Zouma's chances of becoming a regular starter even less likely. The defender will need to assess his options in the imminent future and try to work out what his options are in January.
#4 Marco van Ginkel
Marco van Ginkel is currently thriving in the Dutch Eredivisie with PSV, who are currently 5 points clear at the top of the table. He has scored 7 goals and provided 3 assists in 14 appearances and has even been named club captain, all while still technically being a Chelsea player.
His current success comes on the back of two bleak years spent away on loan at AC Milan and Stoke City, during which he struggled to play regularly. Van Ginkel's stint in Italy was marred by a series of injuries that kept him out of the squad for extended periods and his time at Stoke saw him play second fiddle to Ibrahim Afellay and Gianelli Imbula.
The current season is Marco van Ginkel's third season at PSV where he is clearly loved and adored by fans. In spite of this, the Dutchman signed a new contract with Chelsea just last year that would keep him at the club till 2019.
The midfielder is still young at 25, and maybe a permanent move to PSV could be worked out in the winter transfer window which would be beneficial to both, PSV and Chelsea.
#3 Willian
The Brazilian national team has always had a reputation for flair and attacking prowess, and the current squad is no different. The likes of Neymar, Gabriel Jesus, Philippe Coutinho and Douglas Costa have all made a name for themselves in the Canary yellow of Brazil in the qualifying rounds of the World Cup, with Brazil finishing top of their group.
Head coach Tite will have more than his fair share of selection problems at the World Cup and Willian currently seems like someone who could fail to make the cut.
Since the arrival of Antonio Conte, Willian has featured less regularly for the Chelsea side. The Italian manager has shown a clear preference for Pedro over Willian, and during Chelsea's title-winning campaign of 2016/17, Willian's contributions largely came from the bench.
As if it wasn't already bad enough, his bit-part role has shrunk even further in this season, after Conte's shift to a more defensive-minded 3-5-2 formation.
There has also been considerable speculation in the last few weeks linking Chelsea to Paris Saint Germain's out-of-favour winger Lucas Moura, whose arrival could spell further trouble for Chelsea's resident Brazilian winger.
Willian could look for a move away from Chelsea in January to get in more minutes on the field, even if it's just a temporary move. The winger is still held in high esteem by Chelsea fans, and if he can wait out Conte's tenure as Chelsea manager, he might have a chance to get back into the first team in the coming years.
#2 Charly Musonda
Young Charly Musonda has not had things go his way in the past year and the winger recently took to social media to express his frustration at proceedings. In a couple of Instagram posts that have since been deleted, Musonda spoke about making sacrifices and working hard, only to be denied what is rightfully owed to him.
While he did not mention Chelsea by name, it's highly doubtful that the lad was talking about his inability to break into the Sunday church choir.
Suffice to say, his outburst did not go down too well with Chelsea and Musonda has failed to even make the Chelsea bench in recent weeks. Musonda's full debut against Nottingham Forest in the EFL Cup in September remains his only start for the Blues.
He did, however, recently sign a contract extension with Chelsea which will keep him at Stamford Bridge till 2022. With his future secured, Musonda could look for a loan move in January which would allow him to play regular first-team football and potentially pull off an 'Andreas Christensen' in a couple of years.
#1 David Luiz
David Luiz is a walking contradiction, a player who has somehow won 19 major trophies over the course of his career while remaining the sort of defender who you couldn't trust completely in a Sunday league match.
His playing style was once famously compared to that of a child playing FIFA on a PlayStation by Gary Neville, who then retracted the statement last season with good cause.
In Chelsea's title-winning campaign of 2016/17, Luiz exercised an impressive level of restraint as the linchpin in Antonio Conte's three-man defence. The defender's second coming was praised by critics but the Brazilian defender has spared no time in regressing to his former self this season.
From Chelsea's first match of the season, it has been evident that Luiz's old tendencies have begun to resurface, and his place in the first-team has now been taken by promising youngster Andreas Christensen.
The defender had a public falling out with Conte, who criticised Luiz's attitude and urged him to improve his form. Rumours have also emerged in recent weeks linking Luiz with a sensational move to sunny Spain, with defending La Liga champions Real Madrid reportedly registering interest.
The Madrid side is struggling in the league and they are currently a little short-staffed in central defence, with Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane the only experienced centre-backs in the squad.
A move to Madrid is hardly an opportunity to be scoffed at, especially with odds of a return back to first-team football at Chelsea looking extremely bleak.
