Chelsea transfer news: Blues now have an astonishing 38 players out on loan – so who are the squad-and-a-half plying their trade in nine countries?

CHELSEA have become synonymous in the past decade with a mega-rich owner and on-pitch success – but equally are now known as the club who relish sending players out on loan.

While sending promising youngsters to a feeder club can be beneficial to a young player’s fledgling career, the Premier League club have received stick for going too far by shipping out dozens a season.

New boss Antonio Conte showed no signs of breaking the mould, as mid-way through last month they had already carted an entire 23-man squad out of Stamford Bridge.

And with the window slamming shut last night, Christian Atsu’s season-long loan to Newcastle saw him become the 38th Chelsea player to go out on a temporary basis – that is almost exactly a squad-and-a-half, and five more than last season’s tally of 33.

That is a remarkable statistic by itself – but it gets even better as around 15 PER CENT of Football League clubs now have Chelsea player on their books.

The likes of Tomas Kalas has been sent off for another season again, this time with Fulham, Tammy Abraham is firing in the goals at Bristol City, goalkeeper Jamal Blackman is spending a few months with Wycombe Wanderers and Alex Kiwomya is impressing at Crewe.

They’ve also sent players to other Premier League clubs, such as young Brazilian full-back Kenedy to Watford and experienced striker Loic Remy to Crystal Palace – see, it’s not just the young’uns.

Some have been sent as far afield as Brazil, in the case of right-back Wallace at Gremio, and Joao Rodriguez with Santa Fe in Colombia, as well as old favourites Vitesse Arnhem in Holland.

And last year Patrick Bamford revealed the loanees have a WhatsApp group which they all use to stay in touch from every corner of the globe.

Here, SunSport runs through each and every one for your reading pleasure…

In England:

Nathan Baxter (17, goalkeeper, Met Police) – Highly rated keeper who won the youth cup last season and was included in the first team’s tour to the US – is now in the Isthmian league.

Mitchell Beeney (20, goalkeeper, Crawley Town) – England U19 international already had a similar loan spell at fellow League 2 side Newport County last season.

Jamal Blackman (22, goalkeeper, Wycombe Wanderers) – Another England youth international who spent time on loan at Middlesbrough in 2014 without playing a league game and was at Swedish top flight club Östersunds last term before moving to League 2.

Nathan Ake (21, defender, Bournemouth) – Dutch left-back a rare loanee to have played for Chelsea’s first team before and impressed on loan at Watford last season.

Jake Clarke-Salter (18, defender, Bristol Rovers) – Defender has played in one Premier League match, making his Chelsea debut as a 74th minute sub during a 4-0 win at Aston Villa in April.

Charlie Colkett (19, midfielder, Bristol Rovers) – Seen as one of the club’s most talented youngsters, the midfielder, captaining the club’s young guns to Uefa Youth League glory last season and joins Clarke-Salter in League 1.

Dion Conroy (20, defender, Aldershot Town) – The centre-back, who has won the FA Youth Cup and Under-21 Premier League since joining Chelsea as an Under-13 and is now in the Conference.

Alex Davey (21, defender, Crawley Town) – Defender has already had three loans at Scunthorpe United, Peterborough and Norweigan side Stabaek before joining Beeney at Crawley.

Lucas Piazon (22, forward, Fulham) – Tricky Brazilian winger left Stamford Bridge for Fulham yesterday having been at Reading last season. Has made only three first team appearances for Chelsea.

Tomas Kalas (23, defender, Fulham) – Defender has been at Chelsea since 2010 and impressed in his two first-team games – but is now onto his seventh loan spell at his fifth different club, having taken in the likes of Cologne and Middlesbrough before joining Piazon at their Championship near-neighbours.

Christian Atsu (24, midfielder, Newcastle United) – Never played a game for Chelsea despite signing for £3.5million, but has already played for top flight Everton and Bournemouth on loan before joining former boss Rafa Benitez at St James Park.

Jordan Houghton (20, midfielder, Doncaster Rovers) – Joined the Blues as an eight-year-old and is onto his third Football League loan having been at Gillingham and Plymouth Argyle in League 2.

Kenedy (20, midfielder, Watford) – Has been at the club for a year after signing from Fluminense for £6.3m and scored a stunner in the league at Norwich last season in one of his 14 appearances – but clearly is not in Conte’s immediate plans.

Kasey Palmer (19, midfielder, Huddersfield Town) – England U21 midfielder won in Europe with Chelsea U19’s and scored the winner on his professional debut for Championship Terriers on opening day.

Tammy Abraham (18, forward, Bristol City) – Striker has been prolific for Chelsea and England youth teams and continued form into his first professional club, setting the Championship alight with four in five games so far for City.

Patrick Bamford (22, forward, Burnley) – An enigma – has played for more clubs on loan (six) than he’s played minutes for Chelsea having signed from Forest in 2012. Prolific in League 1 and Championship but is onto his third Premier League loan spell and has yet to score in top flight. Last chance saloon.

Izzy Brown (19, forward, Rotherham United) – Highly rated forward alongside Abraham, was signed from West Brom and has made one first team appearance. Rotherham his first English loan having been at Vitesse last season.

Alex Kiwomya (20, forward, Crewe Alexandra) – Nephew of former Ipswich and Arsenal player Chris, has scored three in four so far in League 2 in what is his third Football League loan spell.

Loic Remy (29, forward, Crystal Palace) – French international formerly of Marseille, Nice, QPR and Newcastle. Has scored goals for Chelsea but pushed out with signing of Michy Batshuayi.

In Holland:
Lewis Baker (21, midfielder, Vitesse Arnhem) – Highly rated midfielder still has not played a league game and now finds himself at Chelsea’s Dutch feeder club having impressed there last season.

Nathan (20, midfielder, Vitesse Arnhem) – Signed from Brazil last summer and loaned straight to Vitesse where he also turned heads prompting yet another year spent in the Netherlands this term.

Matt Miazga (21, defender, Vitesse Arnhem) – US international joined Vitesse yesterday having played twice last season in a baptism of fire after signing from MLS side New York Red Bulls.

Danilo Pantic (19, midfielder, Excelsior) – Chelsea paid over £1m to sign him from Partizan Belgrade and was immediately loaned to, you guessed it, Vitesse last season. Now at Eredivisie rivals Excelsior.

Bertrand Traore (20, forward, Ajax) – A prolific spell at Vitesse in 2014-15 saw the striker play ten times last season, scoring twice, before joining giants Ajax this summer. Genuinely one player in this list you can maybe see being a part of Chelsea’s future.

In Belgium:
Matej Delac (24, goalkeeper, Royal Excel Mouscron) – Perhaps the ultimate Chelsea loan story. Signed in 2010 from Croatian side Inter Zaprešić, he is onto his NINTH spell away from Stamford Bridge, having never got a sniff of first team action. Ahed 24. he’s in some kind of limbo, surely?

Cristian Cuevas (21, midfielder, Sint-Truiden) – Chilean youth international winger was at same Belgian side last season and has re-joined despite going on the first team’s tour of the US in the summer.

Islam Feruz (forward, 20, Royal Excel Mouscron) – Somali-born but plays for Scotland, Feruz is onto his fourth loan having taken in Blackpool, Hibs and Greek second tier side OFI Crete.

In Germany:
Baba Rahman (22, defender, Schalke) – Another bona fide first teamer out on loan after an unhappy year at Stamford Bridge having signed from Augsburg for nearly £22m. 23 appearances and a host of high-profile errors later and the left-back is back in the Bundesliga.

Andreas Christensen (20, defender, Borussia Monchengladbach) – Has only played once for Chelsea in the league but joined Monchengladbach on a two year loan last summer and was voted Player of the Season, ahead of new Arsenal signing Granit Xhaka. Could be one for future but Chelsea sadly more likely to sell.

Michael Hector (24, defender, Eintracht Frankfurt) – A peculiar one. Reading youth teamer who had 11 loans himself while with the Royals including a host of non-league sides before getting first-team chance. Was signed by the Blues almost certainly for sell-on value and has just arrived in the Bundesliga.

In Italy:
Juan Cuadrado (28, midfielder, Juventus) – Conte didn’t want the winger to leave, but after a mediocre two years in England, he wanted to return to Serie A having joined Blues from Fiorentina for £26m. Has been signed on £4m loan deal with option to make permanent.

Mario Pasalic (21, midfielder, Milan) – Exciting midfielder was on loan at Monaco last season and is now at AC Milan, both giant clubs, making you wonder why Chelsea don’t keep him at the Bridge?

In Spain:
Victorien Angban (19, midfielder, Granada) – Joined Chelsea straight from Ivory Coast last year and loaned to Sint-Truiden in Belgium. Now in La Liga having won three full caps for his homeland.

Jeremie Boga (19, midfielder, Granada) – Moved from France to England as a child and impressed in the Blues’ academy. At Rennes last season and has scored once in two games for Granada so far.

Charly Musonda (19, midfielder, Real Betis) – Prodigious talent was tipped to be part of Chelsea’s plans this season after becoming a cult hero at Betis last campaign with some stunning shows. But instead they chose to extend his loan deal for another year.

In Brazil:
Wallace (22, defender, Gremio) – Another one to sign from Brazilian club Fluminense, the full-back has never played for Chelsea but has been on loan at the likes of Inter Milan before returning to Brazil.

In Colombia:
Joao Rodriguez (20, forward, Santa Fe) – Forward came to England after impressing in his homeland, but three years later has had seven loans in four countries and no minutes for his parent club.

In Turkey:
Kenneth Omeruo (22, defender, Alanyaspor) – Has won African Cup of Nations with Nigeria in 2013 and played at 2014 World Cup, but yesterday left the club for a second year in Turkey, this time with Alanyaspor. But he also signed a one-year extension at Chelsea, keeping him there until 2019.