Chelsea files: Blues must admit defeat and take huge hit on Joao Felix as wonderkid, 16, gives Maresca happy dilemma
Reports in Portugal say Benfica are ready to step up efforts to bring Felix, 25, back to the Estadio da Luz six years after his £113million departure to Atletico Madrid.
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But the Portuguese side are not in so much of a hurry to get a deal done that they are willing to pay the Blues anything near the £35m they are said to want for two-time Stamford Bridge flop.
Although Benfica would love to have Felix in place in time for the Super Cup game against champions Sporting next week, they are prepared to wait.
With potential bidders from Saudi Arabia not yet making a move for Felix, Benfica reckon they could be the only game in town if Chelsea want to get him off their books.
Benfica will probably have to increase their last offer, which was about £17.3m in cash plus giving the Blues also half the fee from any future transfer.
But it will be very hard to persuade anyone to match Felix's current value on the Chelsea books, a year after they agreed to pay Atletico an initial £38.2m.
The former wonderkid hardly set the world alight in his initial spell on loan at Stamford Bridge in the 2022-23 season.
And Felix only rejoined Chelsea from Atletico last summer as an emergency bit of financial shenanigans.
Conor Gallagher's £34m transfer in the other direction - which was crucial to the Blues meeting Premier League financial rules - was in danger of collapse before they agreed to buy Felix from Madrid.
He soon became surplus to requirements again and was shipped out to AC Milan for the second half of the season.
Felix did little in Italy to enhance his value and fading reputation.
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Yet Benfica want to reunite him with ex-Wolves boss Bruno Lage, who is back at the club for a second spell in charge and won the league with a teenage Felix as a star player in 2018-19.
Unless a Saudi side or another club with more money than sense emerges, Chelsea may have to admit defeat and focus on getting top dollar for their other misfits.
LOAN RANGERS
CHELSEA are also going to have to be cute about how they play the loan system again.
The Blues sent TWENTY different pros out on temporary deals during the course of last season.
Fifa rules say clubs can only have a maximum of six players out on loan and six players in at any one time - but players aged 21 and under and those who have spent three years in the club's Academy between 15 and 21 are exempt.
At the end of 2024-25, 16 Chelsea players were out on loan but they all met the terms of the exemption, except Felix, Raheem Sterling, Axel Disasi, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Ben Chilwell, and Djordje Petrovic.
The Blues have focused on recruiting young talent and use the loan system to test the players' mettle. If they return good enough for the first team, great; if not, but they do well enough for other clubs to pay good money for them, also great.
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Sending goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic to sister club Strasbourg last season worked a treat and the Ligue 1 side will be key to the strategy again.
Petrovic was impressive as the Ligue 1 side qualified for Europe and the Blues were able to sell him to Bournemouth last week for £25m, which represented a tidy profit.
Young Brazilian midfielder Andrey Santos also had a good year with Strasbourg and could find himself in Enzo Maresca's first-team plans.
For the coming campaign, it seems keeper Mike Penders, defender Mamadou Sarr and attacking midfielder Kendry Paez - all under 21 - will go to Strasbourg.
Chelsea would love to get fees for all the players who don't have a future at Stamford Bridge, but at least some of them are likely to end up on loan again.
ACADEMY BLUES
THE average age of a starting XI player for Chelsea in the Premier League last season was 24 years and 36 days - the youngest in the competition's history.
But the path from the club's Academy itself to the first team won't be as straightforward as it was last season.
The quality of opposition in the Conference League gave Enzo Maresca the ability to run two squads, one for the PL and one for Europe.
No fewer than eight Academy graduates made their debuts in the competition, including Reggie Walsh, who - at 16 years and 200 days - became the youngest Chelsea player ever to start a European game when he played in the second leg of the semi final against Djurgardens.
In the coming season, the demands of the Champions League will give less room for youthful experimentation.
Most of the 22-strong squad that contested last Saturday's friendly defeat at League Two Bromley will be eligible for the Uefa Youth League, which is for Under-19 players.
Chelsea will also compete in the FA Youth Cup and Under-21 Premier League 2 competition.
But in terms of first-team exposure, all but the very best young players are likely to be seen only in the Carabao Cup and FA Cup.
It will be a different challenge for them, Maresca and the Academy staff.
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LIGHTNING McQUEEN
RYAN KAVUMA-McQUEEN caught the eye in the game at Bromley.
The left winger, 16, scored the opening goal with a Thierry Henry-style first-time finish across home goalkeeper Grant Smith.
And after the League Two side scored twice, Kavuma-McQueen would have grabbed a brilliant equaliser but for Smith's fine save.
The England Under-16 international really has a bit about him.
As well as showing off his pace and skill going forward, he was more than happy to do defensive work and kick some of the grown men playing for Bromley in the air when required.
Outside of a friendly, Kavuma-McQueen might have been booked. But in his 45 minutes on the field - before U21 boss Filipe Coelho made wholesale changes at the break - he showed why he is among the most exciting prospects at Cobham.
Kavuma-McQueen, who joined the club at Under-8s level, was one of 16 players to sign scholar contracts last week.
But he is on the fast track, having starred for the U18 team last season and scored for the U21 side against Manchester United and Ipswich.
Watch out, too, for Landon Emenalo, son of former Chelsea director of football Michael Emenalo.
The midfielder, 17, has very good feet and excellent awareness for a player his age. He showed his versatility by playing centre back for the U21s last season and was on the bench for the first team's Conference League quarter final second leg against Legia Warsaw.
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HAMMER BLOW
WEST HAM have nabbed another recruitment figure from Stamford Bridge.
After former Blues boss Graham Potter was appointed at the London Stadium in January, the Hammers moved quickly to appoint his close ally Kyle Macaulay as head of recruitment.
Now, senior scout Simon Gillett has made the switch from West to East London.
Gillett, a former Southampton and Nottingham Forest player, has been with Chelsea for six years, having joined from Bournemouth in 2019.
The ex-midfielder has been working as a positional scout for the Blues but will now join a growing recruitment overhaul at West Ham.
Chelsea are doing some of their own hiring when it comes to staff, however.
The Club World Cup winners have appointed Calum McFarlane from Southampton as the new Under-18s assistant coach.
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SPOONS-FED
A DOWNSIDE of being a match-going Chelsea fan is the lack of places near Stamford Bridge to get a drink or two without having to take out a second mortgage.
So the newly-opened pub in the Grade 2 listed building that was once the entrance hall and ticket office at Fulham Broadway station, will provide a cheaper option.
The Walham Green Wetherspoons branch is bound to be popular. But not too popular, the club will hope, after revamping its own alcohol offering for the new season.
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