Stan Collymore has weighed in with his verdict on Chelsea ahead of the 2025/26 season.
Remarkably, the 2024/25 campaign is still in progress for Chelsea. They actually play their final match of the season on Sunday, facing Paris Saint-Germain in the Club World Cup final.
It remains to be seen how the Blues’ hectic summer will impact them next year. While most of their rivals have been resting, they have been in competitive action for almost a month, taking part in some highly competitive matches.
Even though Chelsea have made £86m so far at the Club World Cup, the players won’t get too much time to switch off before it’s a short turnaround before the Premier League begins in mid-August.
Stan Collymore can’t picture Chelsea in a Premier League title race
According to Stan Collymore, Chelsea are highly very unlikely to compete for the Premier League title next season, especially because of their deep run in the Club World Cup this summer.
He claims he’s heard suggestions from several pundits that Enzo Maresca’s side could challenge for the league title, but he can’t picture them at the top of the division.
Collymore told CaughtOffside: “Looking ahead to next season, I think it’s going to be difficult for Chelsea. The Premier League is the toughest league in the world and they have qualified for the Champions League by right. But I’ve seen a lot of pundits saying that they could win the league. Anything’s possible, but I think that Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City are significantly further ahead of Chelsea.
“Going into November, December and January, they will have to rotate players because there’s no way their squad are going to just be able to get two weeks off after this Club World Cup and be fresh for the new season – no matter how many players they buy. Even if you’ve got 50 players and you’re starting to manage people’s minutes and freshness, changing teams often means changing results.”
Chelsea qualified for the Champions League by sneaking into fourth spot on the final day of the Premier League season, but they were a long way off runaway champions Liverpool.
In fairness, Blues legend John Terry doesn’t think Chelsea are ready to win the Premier League with their young group of players right now. It’s great that they have that winning feeling after lifting the Conference League back in May, but to win a league title over a 38-game season requires something a bit different.
Enzo Maresca hit objective for first season
Chelsea asked Maresca to secure Champions League qualification during his first year with them, so he gets a big tick by his name for achieving that objective.
On top of that, the Italian head coach won the Conference League trophy, plus started to create an identity with a very young squad of players.
It remains to be seen what the goals and aspirations will be for the 2025/26 season. However, we can be sure that the club’s supporters will be ambitious about what the talented young group can actually do with another year of experience under their belts.
If the Blues cause an upset by beating PSG on Sunday, we expect to see the pressure on them increase significantly.
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