Chelsea director: We don't sign bad players

Chelsea technical director Michael Emenalo has defended the loan policy which saw more than 30 players depart the Premier League club on a temporary basis this summer.

The reigning champions have allowed the likes of Juan Cuadrado — bought from Fiorentina for £23.3 million in January — and Mohamed Salah to move to Juventus and Roma respectively, while Victor Moses joined West Ham for the 2015-16 season shortly after signing a new contract with the Blues.

Nathaniel Chalobah and Marco van Ginkel are among the other senior players now operating elsewhere.

The remaining loanees are mostly members of Chelsea’s youth academy and Under-21 ranks but the club, who are not breaking any rules, have been accused of unfairly stockpiling players.

Emenalo insists the loan system has been put in place precisely to promote the development of talent.

He told Chelsea TV: “We have the difficult job — one we happily accept because we are a big club — of trying to balance being successful with making sure we have the right players at the right time.

“Sometimes we know there are players whose development is not finished, just like Victor [Moses], who we want to keep with our squad but who maybe needs to play more football to get to the level we think he can get to, because he is very, very talented.”

The Nigerian admitted Cuadrado had been allowed to join Juventus after suffering a crisis of confidence when he arrived at Stamford Bridge in the wake of Chelsea’s 5-3 defeat at Tottenham.

At the same time, though, Egypt international Salah was sent to Fiorentina, for whom he would score nine goals, reinforcing Emenalo’s faith in Chelsea’s loan policy.

“Sometimes the timing is not right for them,” he said.

“For example we got [Juan] Cuadrado straight after a very difficult game at Spurs and we had to change our strategy for the rest of the season.

“That didn’t suit the reason for which we had already gone to get him.

“So we felt it would be better for him to go and rediscover his confidence and he hasn’t just gone to any other team … he’s gone to Juventus.

“These players go to top clubs and when they get there they prove we don’t recruit bad players, just like Salah did last season.”

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