Reece James among five youth players joining Chelsea on USA trip — report

UPDATE:

Where once there were six, now there are apparently only five.

PREVIOUSLY:

The Premier League season is over but Chelsea are not quite done yet for the 2018-19 season. There’s of course the big Europa League final against Arsenal in a little over two weeks, and we keep a close watch on the transfer ban appeals process, which will decide whether the club can sign any new players this summer.

But before all that, there is the charity friendly to be played in Boston, and that one’s coming up right quick. In fact, kick-off is less than 72 hours away at Foxborough.

Chelsea are due to fly out shortly, and as usual for any pre- or post-season matches, will be taking a few youth players (or in this case early loan returnees) along for the ride. Considering that first-team’s flagging health and fitness, and Sarri’s concerns about recovering a few key players in time for the Europa League final, some of these youth may even feature.

While the full traveling squad has not been revealed, the little birdies of @CarefreeYouth have been whispering the names of some of this youth contingent.

So that’s one goalkeeper (Cumming), one center back (Guehi), one full back (James), one midfielder (Gallagher), one defender/defensive midfielder (Chalobah), and one forward (Ugbo).

Jamie Cumming, 19, who was Chelsea U23 starting goalkeeper for most of the season but joined the first-team on the trip to Hungary in the Europa League group stages and was also on the bench against Malmö FF in the second leg of the first knockout round, and Marc Guehi, who was on the bench just this Sunday, should be familiar names.

Trevoh Chalobah, younger brother of Nathaniel, spent the season on loan at Ipswich Town, where he earned very good reviews. T.Chalobah also has a first-team bench appearance to his name, having been included by Antonio Conte in the matchday squad for last year’s FA Cup final against Manchester United.

Conor Gallagher was a key player in Chelsea U19s UEFA Youth League campaign, where the Blues lost to Porto in the final. Ike Ugbo began the season on loan at Scuntorphe United but was recalled in January and spent the rest of the season back at Cobham instead, making only a couple U23 appearances.

And Reece James should need no introduction at this point.