Chelsea’s Champions League humbling by Paris Saint-Germain has left them with just the FA Cup and finishing in the Premier League’s top five to focus on for the rest of the season.
The 8-2 thrashing by the reigning European champions was a marker of how far back the Blues are in the elite tier of clubs, even after reaching the 75th-minute mark in Paris level.
And there’s a whole host of questions facing Liam Rosenior, the players and the Chelsea board after the Champions League exit.
Here, our Chelsea expert KIERAN GILL addresses the key issues…
Chelsea’s humbling by Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League was a stark reminder of the gap between the Blues and Europe’s elite
Is Liam Rosenior under pressure?
The suggestion on social media, largely originating from accounts abroad with big followings for their transfer tales, has been that Chelsea’s hierarchy are already losing patience with Liam Rosenior.
When checking these claims, it has been insisted that we should take no notice of such speculation, and that it is not the case. Rosenior was appointed two months ago. He signed a six-and-a-half-year contract. We are told he maintains a good relationship with those upstairs at Chelsea, as he did when managing Strasbourg. Agents of players say the squad like Rosenior and are behind him.
When Rosenior takes his pre-Everton press conference at 1.30pm tomorrow at Cobham, I imagine he will stress how much they still have to fight for this season. Co-owners Behdad Eghbali and Todd Boehly were both at Stamford Bridge for the PSG clash on Tuesday. Boehly is not a regular attendee at matches, but he made sure to be there for that one.
What he witnessed was a disastrous night to end a disastrous week. There can be no denying that. The Champions League is where this club wants to be. It is a primary target, has been since the season started, and they are in the chase in the Premier League – just a point behind fifth-placed Liverpool with eight games to go.
What would happen with Rosenior this summer if Chelsea missed out on the Champions League? Not a clue. No point in pretending otherwise. That would be a question for answering if and when that were to happen, and obviously Rosenior and Chelsea hope it will not.
Liam Rosenior is coming under pressure – mostly from abroad – and that will only increase if he cannot get Chelsea back into the Champions League next season
What’s happening with Enzo Fernandez?
Chelsea’s vice-captain Fernandez has dropped the odd hint that he is open to leaving the club this summer – from switching agencies (he joined The Elegant Game in December) to the interview he gave to ESPN Argentina on his future after losing to PSG on Tuesday (‘I don’t know – right now, I’m thinking about being here. We will see’).
But are Chelsea open to selling Fernandez? I haven’t heard that is the case as of yet, but then I haven’t heard he is one of their untouchables, either. We talk of player power now, but his contract still has six years to run and that gives Chelsea an awful lot of power, too.
Who could afford the 25-year-old Argentina midfielder? PSG? Real Madrid? There has been no formal approach from those supposed suitors.
Will Enzo Fernandez be waving goodbye to Chelsea after he defends Argentina’s World Cup crown this summer?
Why wasn’t Estevao Willian used against PSG?
I actually wrote an article this morning on how team news leakage is nothing new, how often information swirls around on matchdays, and how reporters regularly do not use what we are told – for a range of reasons.
Just as Chelsea were kicking off their second leg against PSG, I received a message to say that it was unlikely Estevao Willian would be used, despite making the squad for the first time in a month.
From what I understand, the 18-year-old Brazilian was brought in late due to two forced dropouts, and was mainly there to be back with the group amid his recovery from his hamstring injury.
I didn’t use it at the time because, well, the game had gotten going, and how daft would I look if Chelsea brought him on for the final five minutes when leading 2-0? As it happened, the tie slipped away from Chelsea, and so he didn’t play a single minute as planned.
Estevao Willian was back in the Chelsea matchday squad for the first time in a month, but did not get off the bench against PSG
Why is Rosenior trying new tactics at this stage of the season? Wouldn’t it be best to leave it as it is?
I’m no tactico, but Rosenior has told us he would be mad to rip up the tactics that the players were used to. Hence why, for a while, he was deploying similar strategies to Enzo Maresca. That has included having his full back invert into the No 10 position.
Maybe now that Rosenior has had some time at Chelsea – and finally a week without a midweek match – he wanted to try introducing his own ideas. That has caused some confusion on the pitch, as was the case when Newcastle scored the game’s only goal in their Premier League win at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
Rosenior told us: ‘It’s a new way of pressing. Mistakes happen. They had nothing, but we gave them a goal.’
If you haven’t seen it yet, I would recommend watching Jamie Carragher’s fascinating analysis of it on Monday Night Football.
Anthony Gordon scores the only goal for Newcastle after confusion in Chelsea’s ranks allowed the visitors to scythe right through their midfield last weekend
How did they improve Marc Cucurella’s contract without signing a contract extension? Or has it been signed and not announced?
Every year, the FA publish the transactions completed by each club in one big file. When the 2025-26 edition is released, either at the end of this month or the beginning of the next, it should have ‘updated contract’ next to Marc Cucurella’s name.
The club have never announced the new deal. Why? I suspect that is because it did not add additional years to his stay but was rather a way of increasing his salary as a reward for his performances.
When Chelsea signed Cucurella for £60million from Brighton in 2022, it was announced that he had signed a six-year deal until 2028. I don’t have the full details of the make-up of that agreement, though it could be that it is five years plus the option of an additional year.
When Chelsea confirmed Rosenior’s arrival as head coach in January, for example, his deal was stated as lasting for six-and-a-half years in public, though it is five-and-a-half years plus a year in private.
Chelsea have not commented on Cucurella’s situation, but it could be that they triggered the additional year within his contract earlier than usual as a reward, as doing so tends to trigger an automatic bump in wages.
There are rumours around right now that Liverpool have triggered the one-year option within Alisson Becker’s deal, but the club have not announced it. We may be looking at something similar here with Chelsea and Cucurella.
Chelsea have yet to announce Marc Cucurella’s updated contract, which he initially signed in 2022 when joining for £60m from Brighton
Is there any news about the board tweaking their strategy a little?
I haven’t heard so, though I do occasionally think back to Rosenior’s January unveiling when we asked him about Chelsea’s side being the youngest in Premier League history.
After he had mentioned the youth successfully used by Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United in his answer, it was pointed out to the new Blues boss that Fergie also had experienced players such as Roy Keane, Steve Bruce, Eric Cantona, Gary Pallister, et cetera.
To that, Rosenior said: ‘Yeah, and you’ll see in time what will happen here and the discussions we’ve had.’ Maybe he meant the youngsters they have would gain experience with time, but it did make me wonder.
However, as I say, I haven’t heard anything to suggest a change from the current strategy which has seen them prioritise potential. We will see what the noise is sounding like closer to the summer.
Chelsea’s squad is the youngest in Premier League history – could we see a shift to more experience this summer?
What’s happening with the BlueCo protest?
I was at the last one staged outside of Stamford Bridge before Rosenior’s first Premier League game in charge versus Brentford in January. Estimates said there were between 100 and 200 people involved, though it was odd hearing Enzo Maresca’s name chanted more times than when he was actually manager.
We will have to see what the next one looks like, once a date has been scheduled, with the ‘notaprojectcfc’ protest group behind it having set a series of rules this time, such as no Spurs songs or chanting about former or current players and managers, so as to not muddy their ‘BlueCo / Clearlake Out’ messaging.
The day after Chelsea’s 5-2 loss at PSG last week, the group uploaded a blog revealing what was said at what was supposed to be a confidential meeting with a ‘club director’ in early February. I’ve had it verified that it was with Chelsea board member Lord (Daniel) Finkelstein.
They will have their own reasons for going public with that debate rather than keeping it private.
My main concerns with that approach are: A) I suspect they will struggle to get an audience with Chelsea again after breaking that trust, which is not ideal for a group fighting for their voices to be heard, and B) it may also make the club think twice when considering whether to meet others who would like that dialogue for themselves, which would be unfortunate if so. Just my two cents as an outsider.
