Two Chelsea players stranded after transfer deadline and £22m deal falls through

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca (Picture: Getty)

Two members of Enzo Maresca’s bomb squad face uncertain futures after failing to secure moves away from Chelsea before the transfer deadline.

Chelsea got Nicolas Jackson and Ben Chilwell off the books on a dramatic deadline day, with the former moving to Bayern Munich and the latter joining Strasbourg.

Jackson was keen to join Bayern after the summer arrivals of Joao Pedro and Liam Delap but Chelsea considered blocking his exit after Delap’s injury setback .

Bayern Munich finally struck a deal with the Blues on deadline day , however, agreeing to sign the Senegal international in a deal worth £70m.

The German champions will pay an initial £14.3m loan fee for Jackson and have an obligation to buy the 24-year-old for £56.2m next summer if he makes a set number of appearances.

£70m represents a significant profit for Chelsea, who spent £32m to sign Jackson from Villarreal in 2023. He scored 20 goals in 81 appearances for the Blues.

England left-back Chilwell has also departed Stamford Bridge, signing a two-year deal with Ligue 1 side Strasbourg , who are Chelsea’s sister club.

Ben Chilwell has sealed a move away from Chelsea (Picture: Getty)

But Chelsea were unable to secure moves for their highest-paid player, Raheem Sterling, or £38.5m signing Axel Disasi.

Maresca put Sterling in his bomb squad last summer and sanctioned his loan move to London rivals Arsenal .

Sterling, a four-time Premier League winner with Manchester City, hoped to revive his career in north London but barely made a contribution to Mikel Arteta’s side .

📥 A message from Nico! 🔴⚪ pic.twitter.com/VJiUVUO5hL — FC Bayern (@FCBayernEN) September 1, 2025

Chelsea explored a few options to offload Sterling but the 30-year-old, who is on over £300,000-a-week, will likely remain at the club until at least January.

Fulham and Crystal Palace were said to be interested in deals and would have given Sterling the opportunity to stay with his school-age children in London.

But a move failed to materialise and Sterling has already rejected a new transfer proposal by making it clear he has no interest in moving to Saudi Arabia this summer.

The Saudi transfer window remains open for three more weeks but Sterling has no interest in a move to the Saudi Pro League, according to MailSport .

Sterling will likely continue to train away from Maresca’s first-team until January along with Disasi, who spent part of last season on loan at Aston Villa.

Another player who is still at Stamford Bridge is Tyrique George, who saw his £22m deadline-day move to Fulham collapse in dramatic fashion.

Raheem Sterling has been training away from the Chelsea first-team (Picture: Getty)

George agreed to join Chelsea’s west London rivals as he wants more game-time and had passed his Fulham medical ahead of a £22m move .

But the transfer was not completed, reportedly because Leeds United failed to sign Fulham’s Harry Wilson.

As a result George will return to Chelsea but his first-team prospects are far brighter and he is expected to be named in Maresca’s Champions League squad.

The 19-year-old, who joined Chelsea’s academy at the age of eight, has made 27 first-team appearances and impressed in the Europa Conference League last season.

Chelsea’s business in terms of incoming signings was mostly wrapped up earlier in the summer but the club did agree a deadline-day deal for Facundo Buonanotte .

The Blues agreed to pay £2m to sign the Argentina international on a season-long loan from Brighton. There is no obligation or option for Chelsea to make it permanent next summer.

Chelsea also agreed a deal with Sunderland to recall Marc Guiu from his loan spell at the Stadium of Light.

Maresca’s side have enjoyed a bright start to the new season, taking seven points from three games, and return to action on Saturday against Brentford.