Chelsea are lining up for their final friendly of preseason, and they’ve left some big players out of the squad for the game.
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We’ve been really looking forward to this afternoon’s Chelsea – Real Sociedad friendly.
While the other warmup games in preseason have been more exercises in using who is available and getting players up to speed, today sees new manager Xabi Alonso with the chance to pick from an almost full squad, giving us a chance to understand what he’s actually planning.
It’s also his last chance, considering the new season is now just a week away.
Chelsea squad shows how much work there is to do
(Photo by Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
You can tell a lot from the players he’s picked in his starting XI – but you can tell even more by who he’s left out of the squad.
Anyone who can’t get on the bench for today is surely odds on to be sold or loaned before the window closes. The biggest name is probably Nicolas Jackson, whom most people were at this point expecting to be kept in the squad. But there’s also Emmanuel Emegha, Aaron Anselmino, Mykhailo Mudryk, Liam Delap, Mamadou Sarr, and Tosin Adarabioyo not included.
Danny Welbeck and Jordan Henderson are not involved – but they’ve only just arrived.
There is a lot of work to be done in these final weeks…
In other news…
Despite the long list of players who still need to go, there was some progress yesterday: Dastan Satpayev made the loan switch to Burnley.
Another deal that got done yesterday was the loan of Ryan Kavuma-McQueen, who joined Portsmouth on loan.