Chelsea confirm rumours – it’s bad news for Moises Caicedo once again | OneFootball

We noted earlier today that a change had been made on UEFA’s squad list for Chelsea, showing a new face added and one removed.

Now, on their official website, Chelsea have confirmed the decision to take out Dario Essugo and replace him with summer loan signing Facundo Buonanotte.

“Facundo Buonanotte has been added to our UEFA Champions League squad, in place of Dario Essugo, who underwent surgery on a thigh injury last week,” the statement reads.

“Essugo sustained an injury while on international duty with Portugal Under-21s, and after returning to the UK, medical assessments deemed surgery would be the required course of action.”

Chelsea take advantage of new rule for squad tweak

Dario Essugo in a hospital bed after surgery.

Interestingly, the ability to make this change between the official deadline for squads back in August and the start of the league phase proper was only added to the rules a week ago. Chelsea are among the first to take advantage of it. As the club put it:

“Buonanotte will now replace Essugo in the Chelsea squad, per Article 31.14 C of UEFA’s Champions League regulations, which was adjusted last week.”

That rule allows “long term” injured players to be replaced, and with Essugo’s surgery apparently set to cost him 3 months of the season, he qualifies.

Blues’ squad balance thrown off by new arrival’s injury

Obviously it’s great news for Buonanotte, who would have been gutted to have been left out of the squad in the first place. But it’s dire news for Chelsea’s squad balance. Buonanotte plays in a position where there is generally more cover, while Essugo is the essential Moises Caicedo backup we need.

Essugo can hopefully recover and get fit in time for the knockout stages. The last thing we need is another injury prone centre-mid to go along with Romeo Lavia.