Chelsea's pre-season will officially begin on Monday with Thomas Tuchel and several first-team stars set to return to Cobham next week to begin their preparations for the 2021/22 campaign.
It will not be a standard summer for Tuchel given the majority of his senior squad have been – and some still are – in action for their countries over the past month. Those who have competed at Euro 2020 or the Copa America are not expected to return until later this month, although players can return earlier if they so choose.
For the first fortnight of pre-season, the Chelsea head coach will have an opportunity to cast his eye over several academy players and returning loanees.
football.london understands homegrown stars including Conor Gallagher, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Trevoh Chalobah, Dujon Sterling, Xavier Mbuyamba, Marc Guehi and Armando Broja are expected to be given opportunities to impress the German coach
Other returning high-profile loanees such as Malang Sarr, Davide Zappacosta, Ross Barkley and Tiemoue Bakayoko will also be evaluated.
It is understood that Tuchel has kept an open mind about players that spent last season away from Stamford Bridge.
He has not made judgements based on their performances for other clubs and will instead base decisions on whom steps into his first-team squad based on their efforts in training and outings in pre-season matches.
The Chelsea hierarchy are willing to let Tuchel run the rule over several players before transfer decisions are made.
This has not always been the case for previous head coaches at Stamford Bridge and is a reflection of the confidence and trust which the 47-year-old has earned during his tenure.
While Tuchel is anticipated to be back at Cobham from Monday, those who were involved in the Champions League final and post-season internationals – such as Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech – are expected to filter back to Chelsea's training ground by the end of next week.
The Blues have yet to confirm their full pre-season schedule. The club will be competing against London rivals Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal in the Mind Series at the start of August but before then are set to fly out to Dublin for a training camp.
That trip is likely to be in mid-July and Chelsea are understood to have spoken to local sides over setting up friendly matches, although lockdown restrictions in Ireland that come into force on Monday would limit attendances to a maximum of 500 at outdoor venues with a capacity of 5000.
