Conor Gallagher dream, Thiago Silva outburst and how 10 players who left Chelsea have got on

Thiago Silva applauds the Fluminense fans — The 40-year-old Thiago Silva is still going strong at Fluminense (Image: Rodolfo Buhrer/Eurasia Sport Images)

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With the international break now upon us and no club football for a while, what better time to take a look at those that left Chelsea last summer and how they are getting on this season?

The Blues allowed a total of 10 players to leave the club on permanent deals in the 2024 summer transfer window, including some club legends, fan favourites and even potentially a couple you forgot about. The turnover at Stamford Bridge is usually quite high – particularly in summer windows – so it is good to every once and a while take a step back and do some research.

Fortunately for you lovely people, we have done that for you. Here, football.london has taken a look around the world to see how this selection of former Chelsea players have fared at their new clubs.

Ian Maatsen

When Maatsen left Stamford Bridge last summer, he was a Champions League finalist and a fairly hot property when it came to left-backs in Europe. For the Blues, they saw an opportunity to make pure profit and help with the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR), and they took that chance with Aston Villa paying the west Londoners a fee understood to be in the region of £37.5million.

However, the Netherlands international would have liked more game time in his debut season at Villa Park. While he has made 35 appearances in all competitions for Villa, only 11 of those have been starts and he has amassed just over 1300 minutes since signing from Chelsea.

Villa boss Unai Emery always speaks really well of Maatsen and the Dutchman’s attitude and how he is prepared to fight for his place in the squad. Still, the left-back will be hoping to put together a more regular starting spot in his second season with the club and leapfrog Lucas Digne in the pecking order.

Conor Gallagher

When Gallagher left west London, plenty of Chelsea supporters felt disappointed with ‘one of their own’ leaving on a permanent deal. Atletico Madrid swooped in for the England international and made the Blues an offer they could not refuse. It has been, overall, a great start to life in the Spanish capital for the Cobham graduate.

A tenacious, industrious, hard-working, box-to-box midfielder – it seems as if Gallagher, now nicknamed 'El Pitbull' and Atleti were made for one another. And Diego Simeone. Well, Gallagher absolutely loves playing under the Atleti icon.

"You can see the type of players he [Simeone] likes and he needs in his kind of system, and I think it fitted me perfectly," Gallagher said in December. "So that was one of the reasons why I felt it was a perfect move for me. And, hopefully, I can keep improving and [keep] helping him as much as possible."

A week ago, Gallagher scored the opening goal in Atletico's Champions League round of 16 second-leg against city rivals Real Madrid at the Metropolitano. A dream for anyone to score against Los Blancos, the most successful club in European history, although it was despair for Gallagher at the end with Carlo Ancelotti's men triumphing in a controversial penalty shootout.

Lewis Hall

Hall is another player who is absolutely thriving since leaving Chelsea. The 20-year-old will have a Carabao Cup winners medal that he may have already collected after Newcastle United's famous final victory over Liverpool at the weekend. Unfortunately for the Cobham graduate, however, he was unable to play at Wembley with his season being over due to an injury to a bone in his foot.

Overall, though, it has been an excellent season for Hall, who made his senior England debut in November of 2024 in a 3-0 win against Greece. His form this term has been exceptional and he would have undoubtedly been called up to Thomas Tuchel’s first Three Lions squad if he had not have suffered the season-ending foot injury.

Romelu Lukaku

It has been a good season for Lukaku at Napoli, with the Belgian striker scoring 10 goals and providing nine assists in 29 matches in all competitions. Napoli are of course now managed by Antonio Conte, who is a huge fan of Lukaku and what he can offer a side.

Conte has always been full of superlatives for the 31-year-old striker, who was unsuccessful in his two spells at Stamford Bridge. While Lukaku has been thriving in Naples, he still can't resist a dig at his old club Chelsea every now and then. Speaking earlier in the month, the Belgium international claimed the Blues wore him down as they were trying to offload him.

Omari Hutchinson

For Ipswich Town, there was plenty of excitement when they signed fan favourite Hutchinson on a permanent deal from Chelsea last summer. The 21-year-old winger had spent the previous season on loan at Portman Road and shone in their Championship campaign that saw them promoted to the Premier League for the first time in over 20 years.

Unfortunately, their spell in the top-flight looks as if it is going to be short lived. The Tractor Boys are nine points off 17th-place in the league table and Championship football looks as good as confirmed for Kieran McKenna and his men next season.

For Hutchinson, though, it has been a decent season – on a personal note – in the Premier League. The England Under-21s international would have liked to have been involved in more goals, but he has bagged three times and assisted twice in the league. There was one standout game in particular, where Hutchinson scored a fantastic equaliser against Manchester United at Portman Road in Ruben Amorim’s first match in charge of the Red Devils.

Angelo Gabriel

Al-Nassr signed Angelo last summer on a five-year contract from Stamford Bridge. The Brazilian winger, who is teammates with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Jhon Duran, Sadio Mane and Aymeric Laporte, has made a total of 18 appearances in the Saudi Pro League since signing in September 2024.

With one goal and six assists, he has hardly set Saudi Arabia alight but he has proven to be an important acquisition for Al-Nassr. Out of the 18 games he has played, Angelo has started 14 of them, quite often being a right midfielder in a 4-4-2 with Ronaldo up front with one of Duran or Mane.

Diego Moreira

Moreira signed for Strasbourg on a permanent basis last summer. Playing for Chelsea's sister club, owned by BlueCo, means he technically remains on the Blues' books but there does not appear to be a future at Stamford Bridge for the Portuguese winger.

However, Moreira has played a significant role for Strasbourg this season under Liam Rosenior, starting 22 of his 25 appearances in Ligue 1. He has managed seven direct goal contributions – scoring one and assisting six for his teammates.

Malang Sarr

The man Mauricio Pochettino once famously forgot about. Sarr left Chelsea on a permanent deal last summer to join Lens in Ligue 1, signing a two-year contract at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis.

The French defender has featured 16 times for Lens in all competitions this season but is certainly not at the forefront of manager Will Still's mind, with other players often being chosen ahead of him. Either way, it is a lot better for Sarr now where he is actually playing some football than when he was at Chelsea where he featured just 21 times in four years.

Thiago Silva

A man Chelsea fans treat as a club legend. Silva has already been back to west London at least a couple of times since leaving to join Fluminense last summer.

Silva, now 40-years-old, is coming towards the end of his career, although he has not announced any plans to retire just yet. The Brazilian veteran, though, has not lost any of his passion and appetite to win – as he made very clear recently after Fluminense's Campeonato Carioca final defeat to Flamengo at the weekend.

The former Chelsea man criticised the referee for his performance: "You saw everything that happened [Nicolas] de la Cruz's tackle on [Kevin] Serna, but we talk about it and it will sound like an excuse. It's very complicated to talk about refereeing. Last week it was very difficult to talk to the referee. It is very complicated to talk about him. It was even a bit scary because he was very aggressive to our team."

Tino Anjorin

Overall, it has been a really positive season for Empoli for Anjorin, who said an emotional farewell to Chelsea last summer. The 23-year-old midfielder, who penned a three-year deal with the Serie A club, has featured 17 times in the Italian top-flight this season but has missed a total of nine games with injury.

Unfortunately for Anjorin, injuries have plagued his short career thus far. He is missing at the moment, and has been for the last six games, with a thigh problem, but will be hoping to make a comeback soon and finish the season strongly.

Story SavedYou can find this story in My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.Follow Football LondonFacebookX (Twitter)CommentMore On

Chelsea
Conor Gallagher
Thiago Silva
Ian Maatsen
Romelu Lukaku
Omari Hutchinson
Hakim Ziyech
Malang Sarr
Tino Anjorin

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