Pre-season friendly LIVE: Chelsea vs AC Milan

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HT: Chelsea 1-0 AC Milan

The players are just starting to emerge for the second half in Jakarta.

We shall see how many changes are made by either side. Luka Modric, who played the first half for Milan, is sat on the bench and looks very much like his game is done.

Why do Chelsea stockpile talent?

Nizaar Kinsella

BBC Sport Chelsea reporter

Chelsea have been stockpiling players for more than a decade, dating back to former owner Roman Abramovich's reign.

However, since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital took charge in 2022, they also embarked on a strategy of signing younger players on lower wages, who can be moved in and out as required.

Chelsea have spent £1.8bn on acquiring talent since BlueCo took over the club four years ago, comfortably more than any other club in Europe.

However, they have also raised nearly £1bn through player sales, including a Premier League record £300m, again the highest figure in Europe during that period.

They have the lowest revenues among the traditional 'big six' clubs.

That is largely because of the size of Stamford Bridge, commercial underperformance, a kit deal with Adidas that has not kept pace with rivals, the absence of a front-of-shirt sponsor and missing out on Champions League football in three of the past four seasons.

It is player trading that makes up much of that shortfall, in much the same way as it does for Brighton, Brentford and Bournemouth, albeit with loftier ambitions of winning trophies and qualifying for the Champions League.

How Blues could cut 41-man squad

Chelsea are in the familiar position of having a large number of players on their books, with 41 senior players and only 25 days remaining in the transfer window to resolve the situation.

With no European football this campaign, new boss Xabi Alonso is keen to significantly reduce his squad - with a number of players either available for sale or on loan.

While the Blues can effectively register as many players as they want, despite the Premier League's 25-man squad rule - with under-21 and homegrown regulations covering the vast majority of players on their books - the Spaniard knows having players not involved cannot be good for squad harmony.

But, even to get the squad down to a more manageable 25 senior players, Chelsea will need to offload 16 players by the start of September.

The Blues have had players stranded in a 'bomb squad' in the past, like Raheem Sterling and Axel Disasi last season. That practice has since been outlawed by Fifa, increasing the importance of drastically reducing the squad.

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