Here is your Chelsea morning digest for Saturday, July 10.
Napoli battle Juventus for Emerson
Italian side Napoli lead fellow Serie A side Juventus in the race to sign Chelsea left-back Emerson Palmieri this summer.
The 26-year-old has struggled for minutes since joining Chelsea in 2018 and may well leave the club this summer.
Napoli manager Luciano Spalletti was asked about his interest in the fullback and his response was accompanied with a laugh.
Journalist Fabrizio Romano sent out a tweet which quoted Spalleti as saying: “I can’t say if I called Emerson to join Napoli or not... maybe yes, maybe it’s happened.”
Read the full story here.
Chelsea players return to preseason training
A select number of Chelsea players had returned to Cobham on Friday to kick off preseason training ahead of the 2021/22 season.
Three Blues academy graduates in Tammy Abraham, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Tino Anjorin were the first three Blues players to walk through the doors at the training ground.
Marcos Alonso will join the team on Friday.
Read more here.
Martin Keown warns the Blues over Mount
Martin Keown has called on club managers to show understanding towards players who have featured in the latter stages of Euro 2020.
The final of this summer’s tournament is just five weeks before the new Premier League season gets underway in August, with little time for players to rest.
It follows on from a congested club 2020/21 campaign which saw the season's fixture schedule shortened and tightened due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mason Mount is one of the players who has played over 60 matches in the last 10 months, and the ex-Arsenal defender warned the club not to burn the 22-year-old out ahead of the new season.
Keown said on talkSPORT via the Mirror: “Who is protecting the players? I am looking at statistics here on Mason Mount who has played 68 games between 12 September and 11 July.
