Defenders Albert Ferrer and Winston Bogarde, goalkeeper Ed de Goey and midfielder Mario Stanic are among the players who could be available, with even established stars such as Graeme Le Saux potentially up for grabs.

Chelsea boss Ranieri, who has had to keep his spending under tight control this summer, has brought in only free signing Enrique de Lucas from Espanyol and is relying on talent from the youth team, such as strikers Carlton Cole and Filipe Oliveira and midfielder Jo Keenan, to come through.

Chelsea have already released striker Rati Aleksidze after he failed to force his way into the first team following two years in the reserves. But Ranieri has vowed to keep hold of strikers Eidur Gudjohnsen and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, who have been linked with moves to Sunderland and Barcelona respectively.

And he believes the club's investment in youth will pay off.

'We have some very good young players and I have been very impressed with them in pre-season,' he declared. 'Some of them will have a chance during the season and it will be good for the club to have players like that coming through.

'At the minute I am very happy with my squad as it is and I don't think there will be more signings.