Exiled Chelsea trio named in official Premier League squad despite continuing to train apart

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Evening Standard

·12. September 2025

Exiled Chelsea trio named in official Premier League squad despite continuing to train apart

The door has cracked open for the trio to reintegrate with the first team

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Raheem Sterling, Axel Disasi, and David Datro Fofana have been named in Chelsea’s official 2025-26 Premier League squad despite continuing to train apart from the first team.

The trio were banished to the so-called ‘bomb squad’ this summer alongside other transfer-listed players, including Ben Chilwell and Renato Veiga.

Despite Chelsea’s remarkable summer of selling, they failed to find a move away from the club and remain in exile, training apart from the rest of the first team.

Their inclusion in the squad list implies that the door remains ajar for them to be reintegrated, despite suggestions they are not in Enzo Maresca’s plans for the campaign.

Standard Sport understands that Sterling, one of Chelsea’s highest earners on a reported wage of around £300,000, hopes to remain in London, where his young family is settled, and hopes to leave the club in the January transfer window.

Fofana was linked with Deadline Day moves to Celtic, Preston North End, and Charlton Athletic. The latter seemed the most likely, but documents were not exchanged in time for the deal to be completed.

Maresca explained in the summer that he had no role in helping them find a new home and was solely focused on dealing with the first team.

Speaking before the transfer window closed, he said: "The situation, I think, is quite clear. They are training, I guess they are waiting for a solution.

"But when they leave, it's just the club that texts me or calls me, even Tom [media officer], he just mentioned to me that Lesley [Ugochukwu] joined Burnley.

"I have this kind of news from him or from the club because I don't pay attention to the ones that need to leave. I just focus on how we prepare the session, how we can win games.

"For sure, it's much better to work with 25 players than the biggest number, no doubt. At this moment, we are working with the ones that we want."

Levi Colwill has also been included in the Chelsea squad, but is expected to miss most of the season after rupturing his ACL.