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Chelsea held their first official training session of the 2018-19 preseason at Cobham today (Monday), with all players who weren’t (or aren’t) at the World Cup present. Also present was the rarest of species, a Chelsea head coach officially beginning his third preseason with the club.
Under Roman Abramovich, no one not named Jose Mourinho has made it this far, though Conte undeniably has done so in intriguing fashion. The Maurizio Sarri rumors continue full bore, but Conte remains the only head coach actually employed by Chelsea.
And it’s time to get to work.
After sports scientist took sessions over the weekend, am told #Conte is going to take #cfc training today. The saga continues... https://t.co/AjsdDEXfga
— Simon Johnson (@sjstandardsport) July 9, 2018
After two days of fitness and medical tests carried out by the “sports scientists”, it was time for the real training on Monday. It was so real, that not even Chelsea could hide Conte from official club media anymore. If you watch Chelsea TV’s brief recap of the training action, you will spot the man in the cap, going about his business as usual. (The video is embedded below but you’ll have to log in at the official website first to get it to play here. It’s also available on Facebook.)
Based on that brief video and a few more, the mood was cordial as ever. We’re all in this together, after all.
Despite all the uncertainty over his position, am told there were plenty of handshakes between #cfc players and #Conte before first proper pre-season training session got under way today.
— Simon Johnson (@sjstandardsport) July 9, 2018
— Sarriesque (@sarriballesque) July 9, 2018