Transfer Centre

Mauricio Pochettino: 'Chelsea yet to make decisions on January transfer window'

By Darren Plant, Senior Reporter | 05 January 2024

Pochettino: 'Chelsea yet to make decisions on January window'

Mauricio Pochettino insists that Chelsea are yet to make any concrete decisions regarding how they will conduct business during the January transfer window.

Mauricio Pochettino has suggested that Chelsea are in no rush to make any signings during the January transfer window.

Despite spending in excess of £1bn across three windows, it has been widely reported that the Blues are interested in doing business at the midway point of 2023-24.

There have been suggestions that a new centre-back, central midfield and forward could be on Pochettino's radar, as well as a desire to add more height to his ranks.

However, Chelsea also have the pressing concern of FFP, with their extravagant spending in the past making it imperative that sales are made at some stage in the near future.

The likes of Trevoh Chalobah and Ian Maatsen are available for transfer, while Chelsea are seemingly open to offers for Conor Gallagher despite the instrumental role that he is currently playing in the team.

Chelsea's Ian Maatsen acknowledges fans after the match on August 13, 2023 © Reuters

When quizzed at a press conference on Friday, Pochettino hinted that the current priority was finding a solution for Andrey Santos after his disastrous loan stint with Nottingham Forest.

Nevertheless, he also claimed that the West Londoners are yet to make any concrete decisions over how they will approach the market over the coming weeks.

Speaking to reporters, Pochettino said: "We don't need to sit for an official meeting, we are always every single day talking and assessing the squad.

"There are some players that we own, like Andrey Santos who has come back from the loan at Nottingham Forest, a player that we need to take some decision.

Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino reacts on December 16, 2023 © Reuters

"But I think that I am happy with the squad that we have. We are focused on trying to recover the players that are injured as soon as possible, but at the moment, we are assessing things.

"We are seeing if there is some possibility, maybe we can do something or not, but at the moment, we didn't take any decision."

Despite the staggered winter break, Chelsea face a busy schedule in January, starting with the FA Cup third round tie against Preston North End on Saturday evening.

That will be followed by the first leg of their EFL Cup semi-final at Middlesbrough three days later, before they host Fulham in the Premier League on January 13.