Chelsea accused of ‘warehousing’ players

Chelsea is ‘warehousing’ players by sending a huge contingent out on loan, according to Professional Footballers’ Association chief Gordon Taylor.The Premier League champion has an incredible 33 players out on loan across Europe, including five at Eredivisie club Vitesse.

Among the players out on loan are internationals Juan Cuadrado (at Juventus), Marco van Ginkel (Stoke City) and Victor Moses (West Ham).

Speaking to The Mirror, Taylor questioned Chelsea’s approach.

“It’s a bit of a worry with so many Chelsea players out on loan. It’s almost a warehousing of players. You wonder whether it brings into question the integrity of the various competitions,” he said.

“From a player’s point of view, you can see they would want to go out on loan if there is not a first-team place available.

“But Chelsea have an academy so you have to wonder how it is they have such a phenomenal number of players out there.

“Players want to play and the loan system gives them that chance. But then there are players at these clubs in Europe who are denied the chance because others are coming in with their parent clubs paying their wages. It makes that option more attractive.

“So then it is not about the best team winning a particular competition, it is about who has the best relationship with the biggest clubs.

“It’s not so much something that we’ve been alerted to. It’s something that you can’t fail to notice because it has been such a phenomenal number of players out there.”