Luiz Felipe Scolari has promised a massive overhaul of Chelsea's bloated first-team squad that is likely to see around ten players leave before the start of the new season.
While Scolari's assurances during his introductory press conference that Frank Lampard would remain at the club have seemingly rebounded to the extent of making the midfielder's departure inevitable, a host of other established names are expected to be told they can leave after Scolari indicated he wanted to radically trim the size of his squad.
"I want to work with 23, 24, or a maximum of 25 players," the new Chelsea boss confirmed. "Now I have 32 players. But now is the time to change the team. If I have 30 players I can't bring them in from the youth side, which is what I have always done and always will do.
"The players know this. When I spoke to them, I said this: 'There will be 23, 24 or 25 who will stay with me. That is the maximum I will need'."
Scolari is not short of candidates for the cull. Among those set to depart in the next few weeks are Steve Sidwell and Shaun Wright-Phillips, as well as Lampard. However, his remarks could also signal the exit of Andriy Shevchenko, Juliano Belletti, Carlo Cudicini and Claudio Pizarro. Claude Makelele, meanwhile, is thought to be interested in a switch to Paris St Germain.

