5 players who Chelsea ought to recall from their loan spells

It’s a well-known fact that despite having a pretty hefty squad with some amazing world-class players, very few clubs love to stockpile players quite like Chelsea. Despite having one of the most renowned youth systems in the world, regularly producing top-class prospects, the Blues just love to send their youngsters on loan to other clubs, basically building their profile usually in order to make a profit from them.

We’re now two months into 2017/18 and Chelsea have a ludicrous 34 players out on loan at other clubs. This does include notorious striker Diego Costa, but his situation is a little different in that a permanent move will be sorted for him as soon as Atletico Madrid’s transfer ban is lifted.

Strangely though, despite so many players out on loan, Chelsea still don’t necessarily have the strongest squad and may well need to bolster it if they want to win the Premier League. And so here are five players they could recall from their loans to do just that.

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#1 Tammy Abraham

This one is a no-brainer really. With the move from Diego Costa to Atletico Madrid, Chelsea essentially are left with two first-team strikers in Alvaro Morata and Michy Batshuayi. Which isn’t bad at all, of course – new signing Morata has hit the ground running in style, scoring 7 goals in 9 appearances for his new club, while Batshuayi, although used much less, has a pretty phenomenal goals-to-minutes ratio.

With all that said though, look at Chelsea’s last game against Manchester City. With Morata having to leave the field with a hamstring injury, rather than bring on Batshuayi as a like-for-like substitution, manager Antonio Conte instead introduced winger Willian. Which suggests to me that Chelsea could do with another striker to deploy, particularly if Morata were to end up with an extended time off with injury.

Enter Tammy Abraham. The England U21 international is currently on loan at Swansea City and while the Welsh side haven’t scored many goals thus far this season, Abraham isn’t doing too badly for himself at all – he’s already scored 3 goals in 9 appearances and has earned rave reviews for his performances against the likes of Crystal Palace and Southampton. He’s clearly ready for Premier League action and if Conte isn’t sure about Batshuayi, he could definitely use Abraham as a very dangerous backup – or as a partner to Morata – who’s bound to supply some crucial goals.

#2 Mason Mount

Mason Mount is one of Chelsea's hottest midfield prospects

Currently out on loan at Vitesse Arnhem – practically a feeder club for Chelsea playing in Holland’s Eredivisie – Mason Mount is a creative midfielder with seemingly endless amounts of talent. He was arguably England u19’s most outstanding player in their victorious European Championship campaign in the summer, and comparisons to both Jack Wilshere for his ability to pick open a defence, and Frank Lampard for his goalscoring exploits have already been made.

Thus far Mount hasn’t played too much for his new Dutch side, mainly being deployed as a substitute, but he’s already scored his first goal – with his first touch in a match against FC Utrecht – and Vitesse boss Henk Fraser has praised the youngster for his “angry” attitude and his willingness to force himself into the coach’s plans. Having only just started his professional career at the age of 18, time is definitely on his side.

Could he do a job for Chelsea if he were brought back, then? I don’t see why not. His performances for England’s u19 side suggested he’s both talented and wise beyond his years, and while Chelsea have some of the league’s best midfielders in N’Golo Kante, Eden Hazard and Willian, none of them can play the classical #10 role that Mount could fill.

That isn’t to say he’d start any games or anything like that, but in matches against packed defences, why not give the youngster a chance to pick them apart? If nothing else he’d offer something very different for Antonio Conte.

#3 Izzy Brown

Izzy Brown could fill in as a midfielder and a striker as he's versatile

Currently on loan at Brighton & Hove Albion, former West Brom prodigy Izzy Brown hasn’t appeared all that much for the Seagulls due to a hamstring injury sustained in the first game of the season. He is however back in action now, and with Brighton lacking firepower up front, manager Chris Hughton deployed him as a central striker in their last game against Arsenal. Brown isn’t really used to the position – he’s more of an attacking midfielder – but he did play there on a number of occasions during an earlier loan at Vitesse.

The fact that Brown is such a versatile player makes him an intriguing proposition, and while he hasn’t really been used by Chelsea since moving to Stamford Bridge in 2013, the fact that he was given a new four-year contract this summer prior to his move to Brighton bodes well for his future there. Could Antonio Conte use him now? Quite possibly.

As with Tammy Abraham, Chelsea are thin on strikers and while Brown isn’t an out-and-out forward like Abraham, he’s capable and experienced in the position. And more encouragingly too, he was one of the three players named by Jose Mourinho back in 2014 – along with Lewis Baker and the now-departed Dominic Solanke – who the Portuguese boss thought could feature for England in the near future. If Mourinho could hold that opinion, surely he could play a role for Conte.

#4 Kurt Zouma

Kurt Zouma could prove to be a more solid option in Chelsea's defence than Gary Cahill

Probably the most experienced player – outside of Diego Costa – that Chelsea have sent on loan this season is French defender Kurt Zouma. Not only has Zouma already been capped by the French national side, but he was a regular in Chelsea’s defence in both 2014/15 and 2015/16 – clearly a player favoured by Jose Mourinho, but evidently not by Antonio Conte as he only made a handful of appearances in 2016/17 before making his loan move to Stoke City.

To me, that just doesn’t make sense. Zouma is clearly a highly talented defender – after all, there are few managers better at discovering defensive talent than Mourinho, and other observers have been complimentary of the Frenchman too, with Danny Murphy, for instance, comparing him to the legendary Marcel Desailly and expecting him to be the long-term replacement for John Terry.

Chelsea’s defence was pretty watertight last year admittedly – Conte shored it up by switching to a three-man system using Gary Cahill, David Luiz and Cesar Azpilicueta – but it’s not infallible. While Luiz had a fantastic season, Azpilicueta is more of a natural full-back and Cahill has often been a heavy liability in both Chelsea and England’s defence. Chelsea may have added Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger to their squad, but surely Zouma would be a better bet than Cahill in the centre of the defence.

#5 Lewis Baker

Lewis Baker's skill with both feet could prove valuable to Chelsea

It came as quite a surprise to a lot of observers when England u21 star Lewis Baker was granted a relatively late loan move to Middlesbrough – not only because of the nature of Middlesbrough as a Championship team, but also because 2017/18 was expected to be the season in which Baker – tipped for future England stardom by Jose Mourinho in 2014 – finally broke through into Chelsea’s first-team setup.

Baker had a fantastic season on loan at Vitesse in 2016/17 – his second season in Holland – as he scored 15 goals, some of them spectacular, in his role as an attacking midfielder. He showed himself to be particularly adept in dead-ball situations, scoring a Beckham-esque free-kick in a game against Groningen, and his abilities were also on show during England u21’s European Championship campaign in the summer.

Curiously enough, Baker was seen training with the first-team squad prior to his move to Teesside, but with the wing-backs rather than the attacking midfielders. It was an interesting thought but one that could make sense given Baker’s skill on the ball, pace, and his ability to play with both feet. He’s the type of player who could definitely fill in for Conte when needed, and he really deserves more than a loan to a Championship club at this stage in his career.