Mohamed Salah gives 5 stars route for Chelsea transfers to hand Mauricio Pochettino dream squad

Saudi Arabian side Al-Ittihad's strong interest in signing Liverpool star Mohamed Salah could offer five Chelsea stars potential transfer exit routes after deadline day. The Blues currently have a senior squad size of around 30 players with Mauricio Pochettino hoping to have shrunk that down towards 20 this summer.

Speaking back in July, Pochettino revealed that he wanted a maximum of 25 players available in his senior squad for the 2023/24 campaign. Speaking to reporters, the Chelsea boss said: «Maybe we do need, even if we do well in the competition, we need 23, 24 players.

»Max 25, keepers included — less than 25 is better. We need to be right and need to be able to choose the player and profile. The balance is important.

«Sometimes you get the balance with less. It's not that you can't manage the players, it's that they can't play. Where are they going to get the motivation to play and to train if they are not involved? It's not going to be easy for them and not fair and we can't ask them to be happy every day.

»We cannot blame the players. We need to be clear and to be strong in our decision and be right in the numbers of players if we think there can be injuries or suspended but not so big."

Saudi Arabian clubs have had a big impact on the Premier League this summer after signing some of the top players from the English top-flight. Liverpool lost Jordan Henderson to Al-Ettifaq, whilst Fabinho joined Al-Ittihad for a fee of £40million.

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The Saudi transfer window does not close until Thursday, September 7 — meaning clubs can still raid the Premier League for another week after the UK deadline passed on Friday,