French ace named in Chelsea’s 20-man squad

The 32-year-old was linked with a return to former club Lyon ahead of Tuesday’s midnight transfer deadline in France after not featuring at all in any of Chelsea’s matchday squads this season and has been heavily touted for a move away all summer.

He was omitted from the 29-man party the Blues submitted to UEFA yesterday ahead of their defence of their European crown and although he was named in the squad for the first half of the Barclays Premier League season, that may not prevent his departure.

A transfer to Brazilian giants Santos reportedly collapsed earlier this summer due to the wage demands of the France winger, who has been at Chelsea for five years but has become increasingly peripheral.

Veteran goalkeeper Hilario was also omitted from the Champions League squad, although he too was in the Premier League submission.

Each side has named a squad containing no more than 17 players who do not fulfil the home grown player criteria, while rules state the remainder of the party must be home grown.

The teams can name up to 25 squad members, not including under-21 players.

The Chelsea Premier League squad for the 2012-13 season is as follows:

Cech, Ivanovic, Azpilicueta, Cole, Luiz, Ramires, Lampard, Torres, Mata, Moses, Mikel, Malouda, Ferreira, Marin, Turnbull, Sturridge, Cahill, Terry, Bertrand, Hilario.