João Félix: Chelsea Strips another Star Jersey Number ahead of Club World Cup

• João Felix's number has been given to another player, as his long-term future at Chelsea now looks bleak
• Chelsea only signed the Portuguese international last summer on a six-year contract before sending him to AC Milan on loan
• He is among the many high-profile players who have been omitted from the team that will play at the FIFA Club World Cup

João Felix has become the latest Chelsea star to have his jersey number taken away from him as a potential exit looks increasingly likely.

Felix spent the second half of the season on loan at AC Milan, who opted against making the deal permanent.

He returned to Chelsea, where he hoped he would fly to the United States for the FIFA Club World Cup. However, he was part of the four major players who were omitted from the squad.

The Blues will fly to the US on Friday, June 13, ahead of their first game against Los Angeles on Monday.

Enzo Maresca's squad is largely made up of the team that finished the season, plus the new signings the club has made.

The new signings have seen Felix's number 14 shirt taken away from him and handed to Dario Essugo.

Who is Dario Essugo?

Essugo becomes the latest player to join Chelsea under the lavish spending of the Clearlake consortium.

The midfielder was signed from Portuguese club Sporting CP in a deal believed to be around £18.8m (KSh 3.2 billion).

"It's a big step to make early in my career. Every player dreams of getting to a big club, and Chelsea is no exception. It's a massive club and I'm feeling proud and very happy to be here," he told ChelseaFC.com.

"Honestly, Chelsea showed big interest in me. When that happens, you can't turn it down. When my dad told me Chelsea were interested, I was very happy and here we are now!"

Cole Palmer takes number 10 shirt

Felix becomes the second player who has seen his shirt number given to someone else after Mykhailo Mudryk.

The embattled Ukrainian winger used to wear the number 10 shirt before his doping tribulations. Chelsea has since confirmed that star forward Cole Palmer will wear the iconic shirt henceforth.

The club, however, remained mum on Mudryk's future. He returned a positive result on a doping test last year and is still waiting for the results of a B sample.

Should the B sample be positive as well, the 24-year-old faces a ban of up to four years.

Chelsea's squad for FIFA Club World Cup

Apart from Felix, all the returning loanees, save for one, have been left out of the squad. Raheem Sterling (Arsenal), Axel Disasi (Aston Villa), Renato Veiga (Juventus) and Djordje Petrovic (Strasbourg) haven't made the cut.

Enzo Maresca has only given Andrey Santos, who was at Strasbourg, a chance to impress in the US tournament.

Petrovic's omission was the biggest considering his impressive performances in Ligue 1 this season. The club has pursued a deal for AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan but failed to get the French custodian.

The assumption was that Petrovic would be given a chance to fight for the number spot against Robert Sanchez and Filip Jorgensen, but Maresca has kept faith in the current crop of players he has.

Chelsea's path in the FIFA World Club World Cup

The West Londoners will play Los Angeles, Flamengo and Esperance Tunis in their group stage matches.

The top two from every group advance to the Round of 16, where it is a straight knockout with the possibility of extra time and penalties.

Chelsea's possible Round of 16 opponents include Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors or Benfica.

If they get to the quarter-finals, the two-time Champions League winners could face one of the teams in Groups A and B, which are Porto, Palmeiras, Al Ahly, Inter Miami, PSG, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo or Seattle Sounders, as captured on FIFA's website.

Chelsea release four players

In a related report, Chelsea released four players at the end of the 2024/2025 season.

Every club was required to submit a list of its released and retained players for the season.

There was no high-profile player on Chelsea's list, with the club releasing academy goalkeepers.

Proofreading by Mercy Nyambura, copy editor at TUKO.co.ke.

Source: TUKO.co.ke