Chelsea

Nizaar Kinsella
Chelsea reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Chelsea are exploring a range of options for Raheem Sterling to leave during the January transfer window.

The 31-year-old remains in Chelsea's so‑called "bomb squad", now the sole member after defender Axel Disasi returned to training with Liam Rosenior's first-team squad.

Chelsea's preference is to sell Sterling, although terminating his contract or arranging a loan move have not been ruled out.

All three scenarios are complicated by Sterling's £325,000‑a‑week wages - the highest at Stamford Bridge. Any contract cancellation would likely start with Chelsea being asked to pay the full £22m remaining on the final 18 months of his deal.

In the summer, Chelsea lined up potential loan moves to Juventus and Bayer Leverkusen, but Sterling rejected both. He was understood to prefer remaining in London to stay close to his family, one of the key reasons he joined Chelsea in 2022.

Sterling became the first marquee signing of the new Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital ownership that year, joining from Manchester City for £47.5m.

Asked for an update on Sterling before facing Napoli in the Champions League, Rosenior declined to add further detail. He said: "No, at the moment, I've said what I've had to say on Raheem. He's a player I have massive respect for. Huge respect for him as a person and for what he's achieved in the game. Now is not the right time to speak about his situation."

Napoli are believed to be among the clubs interested in signing the forward.

Matt Jones
BBC Sport journalist

Chelsea can finish anywhere between third and 17th and won't expect any favours from their former Premier League title-winning manager Antonio Conte, now in charge of a Napoli side who might need to win to reach the play-offs.

A win could ensure Chelsea climb up to five places – but it also might not save them from dropping just as far on goal difference. Barcelona, who host Copenhagen, realistically only need to win by one goal more than Chelsea to go above the Blues by virtue of scoring more often during the league phase.

The same applies for Sporting, with the caveat that they'd likely need to score one more goal on the night than Chelsea as well as by a bigger margin of victory.

Manchester City, Atletico Madrid and Atalanta are also within range of overhauling Chelsea on goal difference and they all have favourable fixtures against sides in the bottom half of the table.

A draw for Chelsea is highly unlikely to be enough for automatic qualification as they might then be relying on all seven sides immediately below them failing to win and for 16th-placed Dortmund to not win by two clear goals or more.

Lose, and Chelsea are all but guaranteed to finish outside the top eight because either Inter or Dortmund will overtake them regardless of the result between those two sides.

Did you know?

• The only previous meetings between Napoli and Chelsea came in the 2011-12 Champions League, with the Blues eliminating the Italian side in the last 16 (5-4 on aggregate – lost 3-1 away before winning 4-1 at home in the second leg).

• Napoli's best European Cup performance came in 2022-23 when they reached the quarter-finals.

Image source, Getty Images

Key Napoli player - Scott McTominay

The former Manchester United midfielder was liberated by a move to Serie A. He finished 18th in the 2025 Ballon d'Or standings and has 22 goals in 67 appearances for Napoli.

McTominay has scored four goals in his last five Champions League appearances. The last Scot to score five goals in a single European Cup season was Mo Johnston in 1990-91 for Rangers.

Napoli squad summary

Former Chelsea players Kevin de Bruyne and Billy Gilmour were among 10 first-team players who missed their recent 3-0 defeat to Juventus with injury. Romelu Lukaku, another former blue, was back in action for the first time in seven months v Juventus.

Nizaar Kinsella
Chelsea reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Chelsea midfielder Moises Caicedo says he must "learn" from his recent disciplinary issues.

The 24-year-old Ecuador international has received 12 yellow cards and two red cards in 31 matches for club and country this season.

At Chelsea, Caicedo has served a three‑match ban for a red card against Arsenal, as well as separate one‑match bans in the Premier League and Carabao Cup after accumulating five and two yellow cards respectively.

Asked about his record, Caicedo said: "Yes, for sure. I think players don't like to get yellow cards or red cards. I need to learn from that.

"That's why people - referees - recognise me, because I'm very aggressive in winning the ball back, but not with bad intentions."

Caicedo added that while he must continue disrupting play in midfield, he needs to find the right balance: "I try to help my team and that's the way I play. Sometimes that's the risk I need to take. It's good, and I'm going to keep playing like this because it's my style."

He was speaking before Chelsea's final league‑phase match in the Champions League, sitting alongside his manager Liam Rosenior.

The Blues boss praised Caicedo, saying: "As a defensive midfield player, I wouldn't want to sit next to anybody else in the world.

"He knows that. I've told him. I've watched him for a long time. I have a background at Brighton and I know everything about his career. The scary thing is that, yes, he's still young, but sometimes he plays like he's 35 because his understanding of the game is top.

"For me, one of the most exciting things about coming to this club is working with players of Moises' level and ability - and trying to help them improve even more, which I think is achievable."

Chelsea consider playmaker Cole Palmer, 23, "untouchable" amid links with Manchester United and regard the England international, who is contracted until 2033, a key player in the club's future. (Sky Sports), external

But Chelsea forward Raheem Sterling is expected to leave before the winter transfer window closes, with both parties in talks about securing an exit for the 31-year-old former England international. (Fabrizio Romano), external

Chelsea's French defender Axel Disasi and Tottenham's Czech keeper Antonin Kinsky both have West Ham looking at deals for them, however the Hammers have to send Brazilian defender Igor Julio, 27, back to Brighton to help make both deals happen. (Guardian), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Wednesday's full gossip column.

Follow the gossip column on BBC Sport

Nicola Pearson
BBC Sport journalist

Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior has been speaking to the media before Wednesday's Champions League game against Napoli at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona (kick-off 20:00 GMT).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Rosenior confirmed Cole Palmer, who missed the last match, has travelled with the squad and he reiterated the forward's happiness at being at the club: "Yes [he's untouchable] and yes [he's happy]. It's simple. Cole's an incredible player. I'm not surprised at the timing. A new manager comes in and all of a sudden there's people unsettled. It's not true. Cole's here, he's very happy and I can't wait to see him back on the pitch."

• Asked whether there had been any reassurances from the board over Palmer's future, he responded: "There's no reason for assurance. It's so unrealistic. It's come from nowhere. There's nothing in it. There's no reason to have the conversation. That's where I'm at. Cole is very happy, he loves being here and he wants to be a Chelsea player. You can't stop speculation, but some speculation is so far from the truth."

• The Blues boss said there were no updates "for now" on Raheem Sterling's future and he has not had a chance to chat with him. However he has "huge respect" for the former England international but "now is not the right time to speak about his situation".

• On if the returning Aaron Anselmino is part of his plans: "I'm due to have a conversation with Aaron. He's not back yet until Thursday and Friday. Hopefully from there we can make his situation clearer. He's had a great start to the season at [Borussia] Dortmund and I need to have a conversation with him about our future plans."

• With midfielder Romeo Lavia back in training, Rosenior said they are "taking it really carefully with him" due to his past injury struggles and he will have to "clear a few more hurdles to fully train".

• On nine years being too long for a club like Chelsea to not have won the Premier League, last doing so with now Napoli coach Antonio Conte, Rosenior said: "For a club like Chelsea, every year that goes by and you don't win a title or win silverware, you want to win every year that you're competing in competitions. The difficulty for any club is that there are a lot of very good teams that are competing. The aim for us in the future and now is to compete for trophies."

• Rosenior praised midfielder Moises Caicedo as one of the best in the world, adding: "The scary thing for him is that, yes, he is still young, but he plays sometimes like he's 35 years old, because his understanding of the game is top."

Listen to full radio commentary of Napoli v Chelsea on Wednesday from 20:00 GMT on BBC Sounds

Will Faulks
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

With victory over Crystal Palace on Sunday, Liam Rosenior made it four wins from five games since taking over as Chelsea boss.

If he keeps going at this rate, he's going to change the prevailing opinion about him very quickly.

Every one of those victories has been affixed with an asterisk, often reasonably, because of the standard of opposition, or because of a slice of luck which helped the Blues the win.

But, eventually, the results will speak for themselves. A crucial away game in the Champions League against Napoli on Wednesday is the new man's chance to silence a lot of these doubters.

As well as the caveats about his wins so far, there's been a lot of sneering about Rosenior's style and approach. There's been mockery of his quotes from the past, and videos have resurfaced which gave plenty of people on social media a good laugh.

This all comes from the fact that he's clearly not qualified for the Chelsea job in terms of experience or achievements. He would be the first to admit that. But underqualified doesn't necessarily mean unprepared - and if he keeps winning, nobody will be talking about his CV any more.

Just as there are caveats about Rosenior's victories, there should be footnotes in his favour too. He's managed Chelsea in two games a week since he took the job, and has not had a moment to even begin getting his tactical ideas across. His focus has been on improving the mood at the club and connecting with his players on a personal level - that's all he's had time for.

Despite the laughs at his expense, nobody can look at these results and deny that's been an effective approach so far.

Find more from Will Faulks at Chelsea News, external

Image source, Getty Images

Chelsea have completed the signing of teenager Yisa Alao from Championship side Sheffield Wednesday.

The 17-year-old has joined on a two-and-a-half-year contract for a fee understood to be in the region of £500,000.

Alao operates mainly as either a left-back or on the left side of midfield and made his senior debut for the Owls in August.

He has made five appearances in total so far this season for the first team, including starting in Sheffield Wednesday's recent FA Cup defeat by Premier League side Brentford.

We asked for your thoughts after Sunday's Premier League game between Crystal Palace and Chelsea.

Here are some of your comments:

Palace fans

David: Relegation is now a distinct possibility unless Steve Parish wakes up and realises investment in the team is more important than a new stadium.

Mike: We were just not good enough, Mateta is just not consistent as a striker - he lacks the anticipation that all good strikers have and misses too many one-on-one chances. Sadly we are in the relegation fight and I'm not sure we are good enough to avoid the drop.

John: Glasner has to go now. Appoint Paddy McCarthy until the end of the season and if he is successful, give him the job. Bring back Shaun Derry as his assistant so we have people who are 100% Palace.

Ron: Hard to watch now. I've never seen a team disintegrate so quickly. Second time Jaydee Canvot has cost us points. Glasner has to go now and quickly for we are heading for the relegation zone. I think he has lost the squad. He keeps playing Mateta, I don't know why. Not a lot to look forward to.

Chelsea fans

Keith: Score line doesn't reflect the game. Chelsea are still very inconsistent at the back and got away with it a couple of times. Plenty of work to do but three points in the bag is welcome.

Steve: Nice to win but still feels like 11 players thrown together rather than a team with a style and a plan. The defence looks like it will let us down more often than not.

Kevin: Estevao brilliant. A good all-round performance though I still think we need an experienced striker like Victor Osimhen, a world class goalkeeper like Mike Maignan and an experienced centre-back. Looking forward to this team maturing.

Rohan: Good overall performance. Estevao was brilliant once again. Still some defensive frailties. Hopefully this win will give us confidence to secure top eight in Napoli.

Pundits Wayne Rooney and Danny Murphy join host Kelly Cates to bring you the action and talking points from Sunday's Premier League fixtures.

Watch on iPlayer

And listen back to full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Arsenal v Man Utd

• Newcastle v Aston Villa

• Crystal Palace v Chelsea

• Brentford v Nottingham Forest