Why Badiashile was left out of Chelsea’s Champions League squad

Chelsea manager Graham Potter named Mykhailo Mudryk, Enzo Fernandez and Joao Felix in Chelsea’s Champions League squad, leaving out Benoit Badiashile who played very well when he was brought into the starting 11 after joining the club in January. This article explains why the English manager made that decision.

Chelsea center-back Benoit Badiashile

Before now, it was common knowledge that the Blues can only include three of their January signings in the 25-man squad list they submitted to UEFA. That is as the competition’s rule states that only 3 new players can be added to the initial 25-man squad list submitted by each club after the summer transfer window.

What that meant was that either Badiashile or Joao Felix would have missed out given that Enzo Fernandez and Mykhailo Mudryk were certain to be in the list after the club spent close to €200 million to sign both players.

It is not a surprise that Potter eventually decided that Badiashile will be the one to miss out, as they desperately lack creativity in attack, and as shown in the match against Liverpool, Mudryk alone cannot solve that problem.

Potter must have also considered the fact that Wesley Fofana, Reece James and Ben Chilwell who can all play in a 3-man defense have all returned to training following long-term injuries. Fofana in particular is a direct replacement for Badiashile, and he will be like a new signing as he didn’t play too long after he was signed last summer before getting injured.

Choosing Joao Felix over Badiashile also has the added advantage that the team will be less reliant on injury-prone Reece James, who usually provides width down the right-wing when Chelsea is with the ball. Those are the reasons why the talented defender was left out.

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