One of the ramifications of Todd Boehly’s Chelsea rebuild is that there’s a stack of players twiddling their thumbs on the sidelines, unable to get any game time.
Enzo Maresca has tried his best to keep as many players in the first-team picture as possible, using the Europa Conference League as a vehicle for his fringe assets to get some miles in their legs.
But it’s not an easy thing to keep a squad of 30 players happy when only eleven can play, which is why the loan market is of such importance to Chelsea.
Who can forget the halcyon days of the 2018/19 season, when the Blues had an eye-watering 42 players out on loan?
Thankfully, that madness is now a thing of the past, although Chelsea continue to use the loan market to help their most talented youngsters get access first-team football.
And there can be a bigger picture at play here, too. Some Chelsea loanees have gone out temporarily, found an extra gear and then come back Stamford Bridge and been an asset to the first team squad… or, at least, been sold on for a handsome profit.
So here’s a lack at some of Chelsea’s most successful loan transfers.
Nemanja Matic
Nemanja Matic’s loan move from Chelsea to sister club Vitesse Arnhem in 2010/11 had something of a butterfly effect on the Serbian’s career.
He was signed from Slovakian side Kosice in 2009 for just £1.5 million, but struggled to break into the first team and was sent out on loan to the Dutch outfit.
Matic had a decent season with Vitesse, to the point that Benfica became interested – they agreed a partial swap deal that would see David Luiz head for Stamford Bridge.
Luiz won a Premier League title, Champions League and two Europa Leagues with the club – a successful swap, you might agree, while Matic would himself return to Chelsea on a permanent deal in 2014.
More established now as a midfield metronome, Matic made more than 120 appearances for the Blues in his second stint, clinching two Premier League titles and an FA Cup with the club.
Mason Mount
Having come through the youth ranks at Chelsea, Mason Mount was in need of regular first-team football in order to accelerate his development.
And so he embarked on not one but two loan spells: first at regular destination Vitesse, before joining club legend Frank Lampard at Derby County.
Mount enjoyed some strong moments in both, featuring in some big matches too. He scored four goals over two legs of Vitesse’s European play-off with Utrecht, while his 14-goal campaign earned him selection in the Eredivisie Team of the Year.
In 2018/19, it was off to Derby, where Mount would again be a key figure. He scored eleven times that season, assisting many more, despite spending two months out with injury. He scored in the play-off semi-final against Leeds, and featured in the Rams’ heartbreaking play-off final defeat to Aston Villa.
All of which was vital footballing education for the midfielder, who returned to Stamford Bridge as a new man and player. He would make 129 appearances for the club, lifting the Champions League, FA Cup and UEFA Super Cup trophies in a silverware-laden spell.
A two-time Chelsea Player of the Season, Mount was eventually sold to Manchester United for £55 million – proving the fruits that the loan system can provide.
Tammy Abraham
There are some similarities between the careers of Mount and Tammy Abraham, who joined Chelsea as an eight-year-old.
The striker would be handed his first-team debut at the age of 19, before it was decided that his development would be aided by loan moves elsewhere.
Abraham would experience three different loan spells, at Championship sides Bristol City and Aston Villa – the latter coinciding with Mount’s spell at Derby, where they would meet in the play-off final – and in the Premier League with Swansea City.
He was welcomed into the first-team picture by new boss Lampard in the summer of 2019, rewarding him with a fine season in which he scored 18 goals in all competitions.
The striker would not be quite as prolific in 2020/21, however, and the decision was taken to sell him to Italian side Roma for £34 million.
Victor Moses
What an extraordinary career that Victor Moses had at Chelsea. He was officially on the books at the Blues for nine years, but within that time went out on loan a remarkable seven times.
Signed by Chelsea in the summer of 2012, Moses was slowly bedded into the first team picture, but the decision was taken to loan him to Liverpool for the 2013/14 campaign.
And then to Stoke City (2014/15) and West Ham (2015/16)…
Finally, Moses returned to Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2016, and impressing new boss Antonio Conte with his qualities, the Nigerian would finally make his breakthrough with the Blues.
He made 78 appearances for the club over the course of the next two seasons, scoring eight goals, assisting many more and playing his part in Premier League, Europa League and FA Cup triumphs.
Moses would then fall out of favour, before being loaned out to Fenerbahce, Inter Milan and Spartak Moscow, who he would join permanently in 2021… but not before his Chelsea legacy was secured.