Chelsea Agree Deal For 'Bomb Squad' Player to Leave Club Immediately

One of Chelsea's so-called 'bomb squad' has left the club on a season-long loan as the Premier League side continue to try and offload some of their bloated first-team squad.

The term 'bomb squad' has been a prominent one this summer as clubs try and trim down their oversized squads and get players off the wage bill.

Jadon Sancho, Antony, Alejandro Garnacho, Tyrell Malacia and Marcus Rashford were part of Manchester United's after being deemed surplus to requirements by Ruben Amorim ahead of the new campaign.

Chelsea, meanwhile, placed Axel Disasi, Raheem Sterling, Ben Chilwell, Armando Broja and Carney Chukwuemeka on their list of unwanted players alongside Lesley Ugochukwu, Renato Veiga and Alfie Gilchrist.

David Datro Fofana was also part of Enzo Maresca's 'bomb squad' following a series of loan spells since his arrival in 2023, but on Saturday afternoon, his temporary departure was confirmed.

Chelsea announced that Fofana has joined Turkish club Fatih Karagumruk on a season-long loan.

The 22-year-old forward joined Chelsea from Norwegian side Molde in January 2023 for a reported £10 million, and featured on four occasions during the remainder of the 2023/24 campaign.

The Ivory Coast international has since spent time on loan at Union Berlin, Burnley and Goztepe, where he scored two goals in nine appearances.

Chelsea outcast Axel Disasi gives insight into what it's like to be part of Chelsea 'bomb squad'

Taking to his Instagram account towards the end of last month, Disasi posted a series of photos from pre-season, captioning the post: "Life."

One of them was a photo of the 'bomb squad' dressing room, a small rectangular area that featured wooden benches, an air conditioning unit, two windows and a number of name plaques.

The 'bomb squad' picture. Gilchrist was sat opposite Armando Broja, who has since left Chelsea to join Burnley Image credit: Instagram/@axel_disasi

Alfie Gilchrist, who was sat in the corner of the dressing room with his head in his hands, was one of the big talking points. The defender has since joined Championship side West Brom.

Enzo Maresca delivers ruthless update on Raheem Sterling’s Chelsea future

Earlier this week, Maresca was asked whether there could be a chance that Sterling and some of the other fringe players could work their way back into his plans.

"They are Chelsea players but are still ­training apart. But I haven’t seen them since the start of the season," he said. "They train on a ­different pitch at a different time."

When asked for a yes or no answer, the Chelsea boss simply replied: "No."