Forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has “done nothing wrong at all” despite being left out of Chelsea’s squad for the Champions League knockout stages, according to boss Graham Potter.
The 33-year-old started all six group matches, scoring two goals – but has not started a game since 6 November.
New signings Enzo Fernandez, Mykhailo Mudryk and Joao Felix are all included.
“Pierre’s a professional and I understand he will be disappointed. It was a tough decision,” said Potter.
“We had three coming in and two had to go out. He was the one that has missed out. It’s absolutely nothing bad against him. He has done nothing wrong at all.”
Aubameyang was left out of their squad for Friday’s 0-0 Premier League draw with Fulham, with 20-year-old January signing David Datro Fofana coming on in the second half.
“We wanted to give David some game time to see where he is at,” said Potter. “Pierre’s just unfortunate and he will be fighting for his place for the rest of the season.
“He has handled it very well and trained fantastically which is what I’d expect. He’s been a top, top guy for us.”
France defender Benoit Badiashile, a £35m January signing, also misses out of the Champions League squad.
England Under-21s winger Noni Madueke, a recent £30.7m acquisition from PSV Eindhoven and fellow new arrivals Andrey Santos and Fofana were also excluded.
However, Morocco winger Hakim Ziyech, whose proposed loan move to Paris St-Germain fell through, does retain a place in Potter’s squad, with clubs only permitted to register a maximum of three new players for the remaining matches in this term’s competition.
Chelsea outlaid a British record 121m euro (£107m) transfer fee to secure the services of Argentine World Cup winner Fernandez from Benfica.
Mudryk’s arrival at Stamford Bridge from Shakhtar Donetsk in a deal worth up to £89m came shortly after the club signed Portugal forward Felix on a loan deal from Atletico Madrid.
