Graham Potter faces huge triple Champions League selection after Chelsea’s blockbuster January transfer spend

After Chelsea’s January transfer spend of more than £300 million, Graham Potter now has a huge decision to make over who makes his Champions League squad for the remainder of the season.

It was a frantic month for Chelsea who executed their plan of arrivals to perfection. They did it in the Chelsea way, splashing lots of money to strengthen the squad for the present and future, but it all followed a plan.

Eight new players were signed in January, with Malo Gusto returning to Lyon until the end of the season on loan.

So, Potter has seven new players but Chelsea are only allowed to register a maximum of three new players for the Champions League knockout stages, which sees them have a last-16 tie against Borussia Dortmund later this month.

David Datro Fofana, Benoit Badiashile, Andrey Santos (who is waiting on a work permit), Joao Felix, Mykhailo Mudryk, Noni Madueke and Enzo Fernandez are all vying over three spots, with four to miss out.

Fofana and Santos are the two who are most certainly likely to miss out. Madueke is set to miss out with the final decision over Badiashile, Felix, Mudryk and Fernandez.

But despite Badiashile impressing, the £88 million and £106.8 million signings of Mudryk and Fernandez, respectively, won’t not be selected, and Felix joined on loan so Chelsea are going to want to utilise every moment they have with the Portugal international before his six-month loan ends.

However, Potter doesn’t have much time to decide what his final squad his. As per UEFA rules, such registration must be completed by February 2 (end of Thursday) at the latest, with the deadline unable to be extended.

At this current moment, Chelsea now have a squad of 23 following the departure of Jorginho to Arsenal, so if Potter wants to register a maximum of three names, one player will have to be de-registered.

Hakim Ziyech tried to leave Chelsea for PSG but due to paperwork issues his switch wasn’t completed in time. Christian Pulisic is out injured, as is Denis Zakaria, while Armando Broja can’t be removed despite being out for the season because he is on the B list.