Raheem Sterling’s statement shows how big Enzo Maresca’s task is at Chelsea

Chelsea have spent around £185 million on 11 new signings this summer, strengthening a squad that was already considered large.

Academy products Gallagher and Chalobah, as well as striker Lukaku, who cost them £97.5m three years ago, are all training outside the first team.

Chelsea accepted a £33million offer from Atletico Madrid for Gallagher, who captained the club in 24 Premier League games last season.

However, he was unable to complete his move for the time being as a deal to move striker Samu Omorodion in the opposite direction fell through.

Chalobah has been linked with several Premier League clubs, while Maresca has told English left-back Chilwell that he too is allowed to leave the club this summer.

Midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka and defender Axel Disasi were among the other players who did not play against City.

“I think every case is different,” Maresca said afterwards.

“Carney is a very good player. The problem is that because of some injuries in the past, he should ideally play 30 or 35 games in a row to show that he is fit and how good he is. Will he play 35 games for us? I'm not sure.”

Co-owners Behdad Eghbali and Todd Boehly have spent around £1.5 billion on players since taking over just over two years ago following Roman Abramovich's successful tenure.

Redknapp told Sky: “Maresca's biggest problem is keeping everyone happy. That's virtually impossible.”

“Maresca will see so many unhappy faces. The best teams in the world work with 24 or 25 players in the squad. How or why did they think they could reinvent football? They present the manager with an impossible task.”

If some of these issues sound familiar, former boss Graham Potter faced similar challenges during his tenure.

The roster he took over in 2022 was so large that the locker rooms reportedly had to be remodeled to accommodate more people and players had to change in the hallways.

Due to the size of the squad, Chelsea had to do without Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, even though he had been in the starting line-up in all group matches.

And that will be another problem for Maresca, who will have to put together a squad of 25 players (excluding those under 21) for the Premier League, of which at least eight will be homegrown.