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Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca said the club will “find solutions” to the number of players that have left the club in January.
The team’s 2-1 win over West Ham at Stamford Bridge on Monday that carried them back into the Premier League top four finished barely an hour before the close of the transfer window, with several departures in the process of being finalised.
Joao Felix was set to join AC Milan on loan while a deal was also in the balance for defender Axel Disasi to leave for Aston Villa, also on loan. Ben Chilwell’s move to Crystal Palace was confirmed just after the deadline.
Already departed in January were Carney Chukwuemeka, Renato Veiga and Cesare Casadei, while winger Mykhailo Mudryk is facing a lengthy ban for a doping violation.
“Everything that happened was planned from me, from the club, from all together,” said Maresca.
“We have Tyrique (George) who has a very good profile. Probably we can find some different solutions.
“I’m very happy because (the window) is closed. The ones that are here are the ones that are going to be with us until the end. The ones that left, we were all agreed that they could go.”
Chelsea won from being a goal down at half-time for the first time since 2013 in the league, Pedro Neto equalising midway through the second half before West Ham defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka deflected Cole Palmer’s effort into the net to settle it.
Earlier, Jarrod Bowen had capitalised on a lapse by Levi Colwill, who gifted him the ball to give the visitors the lead.
“I was very happy, especially because I consider this game the toughest game mentally,” said Maresca. “In this moment, when teams come here and sit back waiting for our mistake, there is no space to attack, we need to be patient.
“First half we tried but there was no space, 11 players, Bowen marking (Moises) Caicedo. They just allowed us to play with Tosin (Adarabioyo) with the ball.
“They tried to frustrate us so we needed to be mentally strong. Even with that in the first half we had four or five clear chances. Then we conceded a goal from our mistake.
“We needed to be mentally strong. My message at half-time was don’t change anything, continue in the same way because (West Ham) cannot be so intense for 90 minutes, it’s impossible.
“We completely deserved to win the game. Teams come here and try to frustrate us, just waiting for our mistake.”
It meant defeat on his return to Stamford Bridge for former Blues boss Graham Potter, back at Stamford Bridge for the first time since his sacking in April 2023.
“I thought it was a really positive performance,” he said. “We had a good understanding of how we wanted to defend and attack. We probably could have done better with the ball.
“But in terms of the game and the plan, we restrict Chelsea to not too many chances.
“We felt we were unlucky with the first goal, we felt it was a foul by their defender on Jarrod. I think if we’d held out a little bit longer we could have sustained something in the game.”
