Chelsea are confident they will not be forced into a player cull as a result of the new loan rules that will be announced next year.

The Fifa council will ratify new rules in the New Year that have prompted fears that clubs that loan out a large number of players, such as Chelsea, will be forced into a rethink. But Premier League clubs are hopeful that domestic loans and those involving club or association trained players under the age of 21 or 23 will not be affected by the rule change.

Non-domestic loans or those involving players over the age of 21 or 23 are likely to be capped at six, seven or eight, but that would not cause Chelsea huge problems.

With clubs likely to be given more than a year to fall in line with the rule change, until the 2020-21 season, Chelsea believe they could make adjustments to make sure they fulfil the new criteria without having to offload a large number of players.

Chelsea currently have 39 players out on loan, but a large number of them are club or associated-trained players aged under 23 or 21 and 20 of them are currently playing in England. The matter will be discussed in February, with Fifa aiming to have the new rules in place in March, ahead of their implementation for the start of the 2020-21 campaign.