Liam Rosenior Only Gives One Chelsea Bomb Squad Member Surprise Recall

Axel Disasi and Raheem Sterling both spent the first half of the season exiled from Chelsea’s first team.

Axel Disasi (left) and Raheem Sterling were both been barred from first-team training for the first half of the season. | Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC/Getty Images

Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior called Axel Disasi back into first-team training but revealed that there are different plans for fellow “bomb squad” member Raheem Sterling.

Through no obvious fault of their own, Disasi and Sterling found themselves exiled for the first half of the season. Both players spent part of last term out on loan and failed to secure a permanent transfer away over the summer. Yet, rather than have them involved in the senior setup as is customary, former Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca refused to include them in any first-team sessions while he was at the club.

The Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) threatened to intervene on behalf of Disasi and Sterling earlier this season only to be met with a firm rebuttal from Maresca. The Italian coach showed some sympathy for the duo, but when pushed on the subject bluntly rejected the suggestion that they had been treated harshly.

“My father is 75 years old and for 50 years he has been a fisherman, working from 2 o’clock in the morning until 10 o’clock in the morning,” he snapped back in September. “This is hard in life, not a player, the way they work.”

Rosenior, whose father Leroy was a notable footballer and manager rather than a seaman, has taken a softer stance since replacing Maresca.

Axel Disasi was all smiles upon his return to Chelsea training. | Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC/Getty Images

After including Disasi in Tuesday’s open training session before a visit from David Luiz’s Pafos in the Champions League, Rosenior outlined: “I had a really good meeting with him a couple of days ago.

“I said to the players when I came in that it’s a clean slate for everybody, so it was only right for me to chat with him. He’s behind in terms of his fitness, his match fitness, and we’ll work with him.”

Disasi was not included in Chelsea’s Champions League squad for the league phase and would have to be registered again to feature in domestic competition. The France international doesn’t even have his own profile on the club’s official website.

However, he has taken a step closer to getting back on the pitch—be that for Chelsea or another club—which Sterling hasn’t been afforded so far.

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Rosenior: ‘Different Things’ Planned for Raheem Sterling

Raheem Sterling is not in Chelsea’s current on-field plans. | Crystal Pix/MB Media/Getty Images

The topic of Disasi is inextricably linked to Sterling’s future. Yet, Rosenior rightly pointed out that the pair are being treated as individuals with very different needs at very different stages of their career.

“We’re in conversations with Raheem at the moment about different things going on in his career,” Rosenior explained. “Hopefully that will be clearer in the next couple of days.”

At 31 and with four Premier League titles already in his trophy cabinet, Sterling does not necessarily have the same demands as his 27-year-old fellow exile. The former England international is thought to be prioritising a permanent move to Fulham after neglecting interest from West Ham United at the start of the January window.

It has been claimed that Sterling, who spent last season on loan at Arsenal, rejected offers from the champions of Germany, Bayern Munich, and freshly crowned Serie A winners Napoli last summer to remain in London with his family. Whether that reluctance to move abroad remains is the subject of some debate.

How many elite clubs from any country would be interested in a player who hasn’t been involved in organised professional training—let alone an actual competitive match—for the best part of six months will become apparent over the coming weeks.

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