Pochettino freezes out Chelsea defender after failed summer exit bid

Mauricio Pochettino has frozen Chelsea star Trevoh Chalobah following deadline-day snub

Chelsea and Mauricio Pochettino seem to have started making ruthless decisions towards players who are not in the plans of the Argentine manager, and the first victim appears to be Trevoh Chalobah.

According to Football.London, (h/t Express), the academy player faces exile from the club despite signing a new six-year contract at Chelsea just a year ago. The centre-back has been frozen by Pochettino after snubbing a move during the deadline day of the summer transfer window. It would appear there is little chance of a reconciliation.

Chalobah was on the verge of leaving Chelsea, but the deal couldn’t transpire as he was refusing to part ways, and now the Blues have decided to omit the centre-back until January. The 24-year-old had interest from Bayern Munich and Nottingham Forest, and both clubs were keen on signing him on loan, but the defender decided to remain at Stamford Bridge.

The summer transfer deadline for Bayern closed at 5 p.m. while Forest continued late negotiations, but the 24-year-old remained determined to stay with Chelsea, leaving the club with little choice but to keep him.

Chelsea are holding out £50 million for Chalobah, who can operate from anywhere in the back. The Blues are now frustrated with the player’s attitude and have decided to keep him away from the first team, but Chalobah has insisted on letting him play for the Under-23s to maintain his fitness.

It’s an extremely difficult option for the player but it is what it is. He had the choice of playing for Bayern or Forest, but he chose to stay here, which is ludicrous given the wealth of defenders Chelsea already have ahead of him in the pecking order. Why else would Chelsea go on to sign another defender when they already had Chalobah after Wesley Fofana picked up an injury? This makes it abundantly evident that the 24-year-old is not part of Pochettino’s long term strategy.

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We still have time until the upcoming transfer window, so let’s see if Chalobah will refuse to leave the team once more given that it appears he no longer has a place there.