Chelsea confirm 25-man traveling squad for pre-season Australia trip

A five-day trip to Australia that includes at least one full day of traveling is not exactly the most ideal arrangement that comes to mind, but Chelsea had agreed to play this friendly against Perth Glory almost two years ago. A promise is a promise, and so on Wednesday night, Chelsea players, coaches and staff (including new assistant coach Gianfranco Zola) took to the friendly skies at Gatwick Airport. The journey Down Under will take at least 15 hours, so hopefully they’ve got plenty of Netflix queued up to binge.

A grand total of 25 players boarded the plane, about half of whom will be hoping to impress and potentially avoid the loanee life for next season. That includes all three goalkeepers, with both Thibaut Courtois and Willy Caballero on vacation and the veteran Eduardo on loan already at Vitesse.

As per Chelsea official, the squad in full are:

GOALKEEPERS: Marcin Bulka, Jared Thompson, Brad Collins

DEFENDERS: David Luiz, Ethan Ampadu, Fikayo Tomori, Michael Hector, Tomas Kalas, Marcos Alonso, Emerson, Davide Zappacosta, Ola Aina

MIDFIELDERS: Cesc Fabregas, Danny Drinkwater, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Ross Barkley, Mario Pasalic, Jorginho, Kasey Palmer

FORWARDS: Pedro, Lucas Piazon, Charly Musonda, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Alvaro Morata, Tammy Abraham

NB.: As pointed out in the comments, Kurt Zouma is the one obvious player missing. Presumably he’s set for a loan or a transfer (though it could be any other issue as well, medical or otherwise — we simply don’t know at this point).