Pochettino squad hint after stars return – Three things learned in Blue training

Chelsea continue their pre-season preparations under Mauricio Pochettino before taking off on their tour of the United States where they will play against Wrexham, Newcastle, Fulham, Brighton and Borussia Dortmund

The Blues have once again released some more snippets of their sessions and football.london has taken a look at what took place.

Ethan Ampadu trains with the first team

The Wales star has entered the final year of his Chelsea contract and after a series of loans encompassing Spezia, Venezia, Sheffield United after a tough time at RB Leipzig, it has felt like it could be the culmination of his time with the Blues. Ampadu is now 22 and will undoubtedly want to secure first team football, but perhaps could see another summer where he spends time with the Blues.

Ampadu has spent the last two days with the rest of the Blues’ first team, in contrast to the likes of Callum Hudson-Odoi. The latter is expected to leave the club this summer and has trained separately to those expected to be involved this summer and beyond.

Chelsea have a lot of goalkeepers

While Kepa returns to Cobham as Chelsea’s clear No. 1 following the departure of Edouard Mendy, a number of have been involved under the watchful eye of Toni Jiminez in recent days. The Blues have a youthful cohort of shotstoppers lining up alongside Kepa and Marcus Bettinelli, with Chelsea not having an established keeper confirmed for their squad moving forwards.

Eddie Beach, Ted Curd, Lucas Bergstrom and Jamie Cumming have all featured in sessions so far, while Gabriel Slonina has only just finished his Gold Cup campaign with the United States. The Blues also have youngsters Max Merrick, Luke Campbell and Kai Crampton on their books albeit not currently pictured with the first team.

With England’s lower divisions getting underway in the coming weeks it would be little surprise to see one or two of those goalkeepers earn a loan away from the club after Teddy Sharman-Lowe already joined Bromley.

New youngsters involved

The likes of Cesare Casadei, Bashir Humphreys, Andrey Santos, Ian Maatsen, and Lewis Hall have been long present in Pochettino’s sessions since the former Spurs’ coach’s arrival. So too has the likes of Omari Hutchinson, who has not appeared in the latest releases of images while Ronnie Stutter and Mason Burstow appear to have earned their first opportunties. Perhaps an indication a loan could be the cards for Hutchinson, after he came close last summer and in January.