17 Chelsea stars to dictate their Chelsea future under Thomas Tuchel ahead of pre-season tour

Chelsea's season has barely finished, but already it is approaching the point where pre-season will be on the mind of many. Mason Mount may have racked up his 62nd match of the season on Sunday, with another England match still to come, but a cohort of Thomas Tuchel's squad are already resting, recuperating and keeping in shape for the new term under new owners.

The Blues are due back into training on July 2nd, but those involved in international exploits are unlikely to be back in Chelsea colours until the beginning of the pre-season tour of the USA. That will see a number of players with a one-week headstart at Cobham and a chance to remind the Blues' coaching staff of their qualities heading into 2022/23.

It's a situation not too dissimilar to 12 months ago when the likes of Trevoh Chalobah were afforded the perfect opportunity to impress Tuchel while the bulk of Chelsea's first-team squad remained at EURO 2020. The 22-year-old defender had not even interacted with the German coach before meeting up at Cobham but soon found himself starting the UEFA Super Cup final.

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Chalobah told Baller Talk: "I didn't speak to the manager. I didn't know the manager. I had played against him when he was at PSG because he came in [to Chelsea] during the second half of the season, but I'd never spoken to him before coming back. I'd done work before pre-season to make sure I was ready but obviously, coming back from Lorient, I didn't know what the plan was from Chelsea. Whether I'd be going on loan again or whatever."

"He (Tuchel) gave the loan players a platform to impress because we were with them the whole pre-season," add the youngsters.