Chelsea fans certainly enjoyed this summer’s Club World Cup, watching their team become world champions in the United States. However, injury expert Ben Dinnery has exclusively told The Chelsea Chronicle that the competition may have a lasting effect on the Blues squad for the rest of the calendar year.
While most football teams are now getting stuck into their pre-season schedule, the Chelsea players are taking a well-deserved rest on holiday.
Incidentally, they play two pre-season games against Bayer Leverkusen (8 August) and AC Milan (10 August) before their 2025/26 campaign kicks off in the Premier League at home to Crystal Palace (17 August).
The Blues recently took part in the 32-team Club World Cup tournament, which ran from mid-June to mid-July, playing seven games in total in some soaring heat. Eventually, Enzo Maresca’s side lifted the trophy after a remarkable 3-0 victory against Paris Saint-Germain in the final.
Chelsea are more desirable to transfer targets after their success at the Club World Cup.
However, supporters must be worried about the incredible workload of their players during a long 2024/25 season.
True cost of Club World Cup may come in the first half of next season
Ben Dinnery, the injury expert, has exclusively told The Chelsea Chronicle that fans may not see the best version of Chelsea until November or December because of the club’s hectic summer with the Club World Cup.
He’s explained that a shortened pre-season will generally lead to more injuries further down the line.
Dinnery said: “There’s a lot of lip service about player welfare. But as much as we like to talk about fixture congestion, clubs go away on end-of-season tours now. It’s about how to manage players in and around these situations.
“We’ve got the new Club World Cup format, the expanded Champions League and so on. If you have a shortened pre-season, you’re going to have more injuries further down the line. You won’t be starting the season on the front foot. We might not see the best of Chelsea until November or December because of the impact that the Club World Cup is going to have on them. There’s so much talk about minutes, travel and exposure, but nothing seems to change. If something is going to happen, it will have to come from the players.
“It’s all about money. Todd Boehly overhauled the medical department within Chelsea. What we’d seen under various managers was injuries incidences go through the roof. Historically, Chelsea always performed quite well in this department, but with new managers with new styles, their rates increased. We went from around 6.9 injuries for every 1,000 minutes up to about 15-16 injuries over the same period in the latter stages under Frank Lampard. The numbers were off the charts. There’s always a spike when a new manager takes over. You’ll always see a spike in injury instances when a new manager comes in. The new guy will think he needs to improve the running metrics and make changes as a result.”
Chelsea have the squad depth to deal with setbacks
Of course, injuries are nothing new in our sport, but it will be intriguing to see the impact this summer has on Chelsea going into next season. Alan Shearer thinks Chelsea can challenge for the Premier League, but they can forget about that if they start slowly.
It’s reassuring for the Blues fanbase that the club are slowly building a squad that looks durable and ready to compete across the board.
The Athletic claims that Chelsea head coach Maresca received a lot of praise from within the club for how he managed his squad at the Club World Cup, rotating fairly regularly throughout the tournament. We wouldn’t be surprised to see him adapt a similar approach in the opening weeks of the Premier League, too.
It feels like they have two quality options per position in the squad, apart from at left-back. Chelsea are negotiating to sign Ajax defender Jorrel Hato, though
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