Chelsea have identified the dressing-room mole responsible for leaking team news in recent weeks and, according to manager Liam Rosenior, the matter has been “dealt with”.
Telegraph Sport understands that the individual is not considered to be a member of Rosenior’s playing squad and is thought to be external to the club.
“We know [who it was],” Rosenior said. “It’s not come from any place of malicious intent, to me or the team. We have dealt with the situation.”
Details of Chelsea’s team selection were leaked in the French media for the second time in a week, hours before the club’s Champions League defeat by Paris St-Germain.
The emergence of details from Rosenior’s team selection on Tuesday night came just six days after French media also publicised the entire Chelsea line-up on the day of the last-16 first-leg tie in Paris.
Earlier this week it was reported that centre-back Wesley Fofana would not start the second leg against PSG, with the France international an unused substitute.
The reports also stated that Chelsea trained with Jorrel Hato next to Trevoh Chalobah in their final, behind-closed-doors session on Monday, which revealed Rosenior’s preferred starting centre-back pairing for the 3-0 second-leg defeat that condemned the Premier League side to an aggregated 8-2 loss.
Rosenior also addressed criticism for his in-game methods after video footage of the head coach writing down notes and handing a piece of paper to Alejandro Garnacho, when Chelsea were 8-2 down in the tie, was mocked.
“It doesn’t bother me,” he said. “The reality is that I have to help this club win matches. If I don’t, if I breathe wrong or sneeze wrong, people will talk about it. It doesn’t affect me. It’s my job to be aware. Am I surprised? No.
“In terms of the game on Tuesday, it completely didn’t go the way we wanted it to.
“Me handing out a note is not a reflection of my message not getting across to the players.”
Rosenior added: “Every manager goes through difficult weeks. I’ve had challenging periods before. I’ve lost games in many jobs, like all managers have done. We need to find a way to fight at Everton and come through a difficult period.”
Meanwhile, Enzo Fernandez, the Chelsea vice-captain, has told Rosenior he is happy at Chelsea following comments made by the midfielder that he does not know whether he will be at Stamford Bridge next season.
The Argentina international cast doubt on his future when asked by a broadcaster in the immediate aftermath of Tuesday’s defeat.
He has five years to run on the contract he signed when joining for a then-British record fee of £106m in 2023 but hinted to ESPN that the final eight Premier League games of the season, plus the remainder of Chelsea’s FA Cup run, could be his last matches for the club.
Rosenior said he spoke to Fernandez on Thursday and he has no concerns about the 25-year-old’s commitment.
“I had a great conversation with Enzo at length this morning at the training ground,” he said. “Not just about the comments, but the future and how much we want to win the coming games.
“I would say he made it really clear to me how happy he is here, how much he wants to win for the team, and how passionate he is for this football club.
“He said also the translation and emotion got misconstrued. He is completely committed to this football club.”