8 leave, 27 stay as Chelsea reduce numbers in training camp — report

As Frank Lampard revealed after last night’s 1-1 friendly draw against Bohemians, the plan that was set in place well before he was even appointed head coach was to reduce numbers in training camp to a more manageable total than the 35 currently there.

And so, today, 7 of the first 21 who arrived, plus Izzy Brown who showed up with the second batch of arrivals, returned to Cobham to continue working on their fitness and either rejoin the youth or development squads or head out on loan (or possible more permanent moves away for some).

According to the ever wonderful spying eyes of @CarefreeYouth, the 8 who left training camp today are: Marc Guehi, Trevoh Chalobah, Dujon Sterling, Conor Gallagher, Lewis Baker, Lucas Piazon, Izzy Brown, and Ike Ugbo.

Of those, I’d fully expect to see Guehi, Chalobah, Sterling, and Gallagher for many more years in Chelsea blue. The others are getting on a bit in age and experience, which is especially unfortunate in the case of Lewis Baker, who once seemed surely destined for Chelsea stardom.

This leaves 27 players in camp, which is still a few extra than is truly needed. In fact, left back Ian Maatsen and midfielder Billy Gilmour, combined age of 35, will be leaving the first-team this weekend.

The squad in full, for now, is as follows:

GOALKEEPERS: Arrizabalaga, Caballero, Cumming

DEFENDERS: Alonso, Ampadu, Azpilicueta, Christensen, David Luiz, Emerson, Maatsen, Tomori, Zappacosta, Zouma

MIDFIELDERS: Bakayoko, Barkley, Drinkwater, Gilmour, Jorginho, Kanté, Kovačić, Mount

FORWARDS: Abraham, Batshuayi, Giroud, Kenedy, Palmer, Pedro

As @CarefreeYouth also mentions, neither Willian not Antonio Rüdiger are expected to be partaking in the Japan tour starting next week, and while it’s unclear when exactly but Christian Pulisic could be joining at some point. Callum Hudson-Odoi is still a few weeks away, while Ruben Loftus-Cheek is looking at a much longer timeline of recovery.

P.S.: If you haven’t yet, give the man a follow on Twitter (provided it’s back up and working). One of the few, relatively drama-free accounts in that hive of scum and villainy.