Raheem Sterling one of two Chelsea stars stripped of squad number as Pedro Neto and Joao Felix given new numbers

Chelsea have stripped Raheem Sterling and Trevoh Chalobah of their squad numbers as the club look to force a number of unwanted players out of Stamford Bridge.

The duo are are two members of the Blues‘ bloated squad that have been forced to train separately from the first team along with Ben Chilwell, Romelu Lukaku, Kepa Arrizabalaga and Armando Broja.

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Juventus have an interest in Sterling, while talkSPORT understands Manchester United have been offered the chance to snap up Chilwell given their two left-backs Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia remain injured.

Unsurprisingly, none of the players in that group were involved in Chelsea’s matchday squad for their Premier League opener against Manchester City, which they lost 2-0.

Sterling took the No17 shirt when he first joined from City in the summer of 2022 for £47.5million and switched to No7 last season.

However, that shirt has now gone to £54m recruit Pedro Neto, who joined from Wolves.

The change comes just days after Neto donned the No19 shirt for his Chelsea debut against City.

As for Chalobah, he has been forced to vacate his No14 jersey for new recruit Joao Felix, who wore the same number during his loan spell with Barcelona last season.

The Portuguese forward’s return to west London was confirmed on Wednesday with Chelsea forking out £42.6m to prise him away from Atletico Madrid.

During his loan spell at Chelsea in the second half of the 2022/23 season, Felix was given the No11.

Chelsea confirmed the number changes in a club statement, but stressed they ‘will remain subject to change’ until the end of the transfer window.

The club also stated it would allow fans who purchased Neto shirts with No19 on the back to exchange them for a Neto No7 jersey up until September 30.

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Stripping Sterling and Chalobah of their squad numbers is the latest step in new Blues boss Enzo Maresca’s ruthless attempt to force players out.

“We have a big squad and it’s impossible to give all of them minutes,” Maresca said in a press conference on Wednesday.

“If they are looking for minutes it’s better for them to leave.

“I try to be honest. I spoke with Raheem before the Manchester City game.

“I said he will struggle to get minutes with us and this was the reason why he was out.

“And with Chilly, he’s a lovely guy, but I said he is going to struggle with his position. It’s not brutal, it’s just honest.”

Sterling had featured heavily for Chelsea in pre-season and his representatives released a statement shortly ahead of kick-off against City on Sunday asking for “clarity” on his future.

He now has that, with Maresca making it clear he has no career at Chelsea.

“I’m not saying Raheem is not a good player,” said Maresca. “But I prefer a different kind of wingers.

“I just tried to be honest. I spoke with Raheem before City. I said he’s going to struggle to get minutes with us.

“With (Chilwell), I said that he’s a lovely guy but he’s going to struggle. If you define this as brutal, it’s up to you.”

And Maresca has denied the club is a ‘mess’, saying: “I am not working with 42 players, that is something from outside. I’m working with 21 players. The other 15 or 20, they are training apart.

“They are Chelsea players but they are not working with me. I don’t see them. It’s not a mess like it looks from outside, absolutely not.

“You (the media) like to say we are 43 players. But more than 15 players are training apart. They are not with the team.”

Commenting on the possibility of Chelsea being stuck with unwanted players, he stated: “This is not my problem.

“I am here to take decisions and think the best for us. I am not thinking about how many years are on the contracts.

“They have a 20-year contract? I don’t care. It’s not my job.”

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