Chelsea

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Enzo Maresca says Chelsea's players have "all accepted" Enzo Fernandez’s apology after singing a derogatory song about France's black players.

Fernandez was accused of "uninhibited racism" by Chelsea team-mate Wesley Fofana for a video posted to his social media account after Argentina beat Colombia 1-0 in the Copa America final on 14 July.

Chelsea instigated an internal disciplinary procedure which is now closed with no action taken, the Press Association reports.

“We all feel very comfortable and good," said Maresca. "Enzo Fernandez is back; he had a chat with us and he just clarified that there was not any bad intention.

"The meeting was between me, Enzo and some of the other players. Wes [Fofana] was there, to clarify the situation. There is no mystery behind it - we all make mistakes and sometimes have to apologise. Enzo apologised four or five times. The lads already accepted it.

"Since yesterday's session and last night, everything was like before. They were all together, speaking and laughing - a normal situation. It was exactly what I expected as I know there is not any bad intention and they are all good people."

Fernandez has also made a voluntary contribution to an anti-discrimination charity. The amount will be matched by Chelsea.

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Pat Nevin, former Chelsea, Everton and Scotland winger writing in his Football Extra newsletter:

The pre-season friendlies are in full swing and let's be straight about this, the players generally hate these games, whatever they say.

They clearly haven't had enough rest in the summer, it is a grind getting your body back into peak shape, especially if the accumulated injuries from last season haven’t been allowed to fully recover.

The games themselves are weird affairs, where you would like to win but that is nowhere near the most important thing. Fitness, integrating new players, possibly a new manager and sometimes a new system are each more important. You also know full well that it is a hotch-potch of a team selection to give players minutes. The fans, mass media and social media will read far too much into every game and every performance.

From within the team itself, there are different motivations. A young or new player being given his first chance will be racing about like an overexcited spaniel. Other experienced players will be easing themselves back into it, the primary concern in their minds is to be fit and healthy come the first weekend of the Premier League season.

‌Deep down they don't worry if they get thumped by Celtic or DC United on their US tours, nobody at Chelsea or Aston Villa will remember or care about these results in two weeks' time.

‌Unless of course you are a DC or indeed Celtic fan. The Celts just beat Chelsea and Man City. Now that is impressive pre-season form or is that just Scottish bias.

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Napoli would be interested in Chelsea's Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku, 31, in a part-exchange deal for Victor Osimhen. (Guardian), external

Chelsea are interested in 18-year-old Genk goalkeeper Mike Penders. If bought, Chelsea intend to loan the Belgian back immediately. (HLN - in Dutch), external

Atletico Madrid are confident of signing Chelsea's England midfielder Conor Gallagher, 24. (Football insider), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Tuesday's full gossip column

Nizaar Kinsella
BBC Sport football news reporter

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Villarreal goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen is flying to the United States to compete his move to Chelsea.

The 22-year-old is set to move after the Blues agreed a £20.7m deal over the weekend and the Denmark Under-21 international agreed terms over a seven-year deal.

Chelsea have three games left in their pre-season tour so Jorgensen could feature against any of Club America, Manchester City or Real Madrid before the Blues travel home later next week.

Defender Aaron Anselmino is also set to complete his move from Boca Juniors this week.

The centre-back, 19, will return to the Argentine giants on loan.

Image source, Chelsea FC

Chelsea have revealed their 2024-25 away kit during the club's pre-season tour of the USA.

The announcement video for the new white shirt with blue and orange trim was filmed in San Jose, California.

The club said: "The ‘blue flame’ theme from this year’s home kit continues into the away shirt, with the orange accent colour presenting fire and the shared ambition, burning passion and determination of the whole club to succeed both on and off the pitch.

"The shirt and shorts feature a woven fabric in ‘guava ice’, a lighter shade of orange, which brings a clean, youthful and on-trend aesthetic.

"Both are accented by ‘team orange’ and ‘rush blue’ trims to provide contrast and a connection to the home kit which also carries the tones so synonymous with the club’s kits over the years."

The kit also features a custom crest, "enhancing the orange tones from the club’s past kits in a modern way".

After Chelsea's heavy 4-1 pre-season defeat by Celtic, we asked you to have your say on the game.

Here are a selection of your comments:

Spike: Chelsea should tear up Maresca's contract before the season starts. And whoever is in charge of transfers needs to go with him! The team already look far worse than last season. From what I've seen so far, this could well be Chelsea's last season as a Premier League club!

Bruce: It's just pre-season so I wouldn't panic too much just yet. After all, Celtic also beat Manchester City and Arsenal got beaten by Preston the other day. Still a disappointing result though.

Nick: Very disappointing start to pre-season. There's still a lot of work to do and no meaningful improvement in personnel in defence. No quality experience bought this summer either and, until the team has a spine of experience, nothing will change.

Keith: Absolutely diabolical. Keystone Cops defending. I realise that a lot of first teamers were absent, but the players that did play should be doing far better. We all know that Mudryk, Sterling and a few others aren't good enough, so why are they still here? Stop signing unknown South American kids and sign a quality striker, centre-back and goalkeeper!

Nate: The main concern right now are the apparent tactical deficiencies which were quite openly observable against Celtic. You could explain away the result as Celtic being more advanced down their pre-season timeline compared to Chelsea, yet I don’t believe they looked noticeably fitter. Systemically we looked to be disorganised and incoherent.

Mark: Far too much is being read into these games. Some of our best seasons have followed poor results in pre-season friendlies. Right now, Maresca is looking at the squad and asking his players to implement his vision. That doesn't happen overnight. These results mean absolutely nothing. 18 August is when it matters and until then people need to just calm down.

Nizaar Kinsella
BBC Sport football news reporter

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Chelsea defender Axel Disasi is hoping to return after a hernia operation during pre-season.

The France international managed to play through the end of last season despite suffering with pain in the final few matches.

Disasi opted for surgery during the summer and is taking the final steps in his rehabilitation.

Chelsea opted to take him on tour as he neared his return, but he has so far missed the 2-2 draw with Wrexham and 4-1 defeat by Celtic during their time in the United States.

Chelsea have made contact with 26-year-old Juventus and Italy forward Federico Chiesa, who is also wanted by Tottenham. (Team talk), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Monday's full gossip column

Following the news Chelsea have agreed a deal with Villarreal for goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen, we asked you to have your say on the competition to be the Blues' number one.

Here are a selection of your comments:

Stuart: I would say that Sanchez isn't Chelsea level, but these days he probably is. The fact he wasn't even Brighton's number one means that logically he shouldn't be ours. This is a Maresca signing so I expect Jorgensen to be our number one.

Scott: If Jorgensen fits the new style of play, then great. He does look like he could easily be another Kepa, though. My main question is, why are we willing to spend £250m on midfield but won't pay over £35m for a goalkeeper or striker?

Andy: To be honest, I think Petrovic is and always will be a better keeper than Sanchez. When Sanchez played last season he did cost us points in games, for example against Arsenal. I think it's a waste of time trying to purchase a keeper when we do have enough on the books .

David: Sanchez has been very poor in decision making and distribution so any option is most welcome.

Tom: If our perfectly decent goalkeeper, Petrovic, isn't comfortable playing out from the back then maybe don't play out from the back. So far, this transfer window seems disruptive rather than exciting.

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Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca believes "physical conditioning" was the difference between his side and Celtic in their 4-1 defeat.

The Blues had a number of chances throughout the match, with Celtic goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel making some impressive saves to keep them out.

The Scottish Premiership champions, who were playing their fifth pre-season game, were more clinical and pounced on errors in the Chelsea defence, before Christopher Nkunku scored a late consolation goal from the spot.

It was the second pre-season friendly on the Blues' US Tour and the side look to still be adapting to new head coach Maresca's style of play.

"On the ball the team was ten times better than we were against Wrexham because we can see the amount of chances we had in the first half and the second half," the Italian said after the match.

"Off the ball, for sure, we need to improve things. You can see sometimes we confuse when we need to play short and when we need to play a little bit longer but that is part of the process."

"For me, it is important to realise the difference between us and them [Celtic] in the physical conditioning.

"You can see they had already played four games in pre-season and they are starting their official season very soon. Whereas for us, we struggled a little bit physically."

Chelsea suffered a heavy 4-1 defeat by Scottish Premiership champions Celtic in their pre-season friendly at Notre Dame Stadium in Indiana.

Celtic took the lead after 19 minutes through Matt O'Riley, before goals from Kyogo Furuhashi, Luis Palma and Mikey Johnston gave them a 4-0 lead.

The Blues had a number of chances throughout the match and Christopher Nkunku scored from the penalty spot to claim a late consolation.

The defeat means new head coach Enzo Maresca's wait for a first win since taking charge continues after drawing 2-2 with Wrexham in their opening pre-season game.

What did you learn from this match, Chelsea fans?

Let us know your thoughts, external

David Lockwood
BBC Sport Editorial Sustainability Lead

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Los Angeles or Chesterfield? San Diego or Salford?

The pre-season destinations of 20 Premier League clubs may be varied, but the issue remains the same - the impact of so many flights.

Half (10) of the clubs have flown to the United States for friendlies; three have travelled to the Far East and the rest are in Europe and the UK.

Manchester United's pre-season schedule see them flying almost 13,000 miles playing fixtures in Norway, Scotland, and across the US. Chelsea and Tottenham are also expected to fly in excess of 12,000 miles.

In contrast, Everton will fly the least, with just one fixture outside the UK in the Republic of Ireland.

Spurs and Newcastle also played an exhibition fixture in May - three days after the season finished - for which they both flew to Melbourne, Australia, a game Alan Shearer described as “madness”. Add in those air miles and both teams will have travelled in excess of 30,000 air miles in the close-season, equivalent to more than once around the globe, to play in non-competitive matches.

Newcastle and Spurs both have a target to be Net Zero by 2030, while Manchester United and Chelsea are in process of establishing an emissions reduction plan.

Net Zero requires the reduction and removal of all 'non-essential emissions' - so are these games essential?

Wycombe's David Wheeler is a leading sustainability campaigner in football and told BBC Sport: "These games are only necessary in the sense that the clubs want to make more money and grow their fan base".

He added: "The vast majority of players don't want to be away from their families, they don't want to be travelling around the world after a full slog of a season. They're overworked and injuries have gone through the roof, so there is a synergy between player welfare and planetary welfare."

An estimated travelling group of 30 flying 12,864 air miles business class generates around 200 tonnes of CO2 - the equivalent of 500,000 miles driven by an average petrol car, or the entire annual emissions for a year of 16 people in the UK.

Tottenham said it is "committed to minimising its environmental impact" in all its operations, "which will take time and effort". The club says it "ensures" all teams travel "as sustainably as possible throughout the season". It "measures, manages and reports on travel emissions" and will offsets "where possible."

Read more about the Premier League's pre-season air miles here

Nizaar Kinsella
BBC Sport football news reporter in Palo Alto

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New signing Tosin Adarabioyo has revealed it was a "no-brainer" to make his dream move to Chelsea, amid reported interest from Manchester United and Newcastle.

The Blues are believed to have faced significant competition when signing Adarabioyo, 26, on a free transfer last month when his contract at Fulham expired.

The central defender had looked Newcastle-bound but the arrival of former Manchester City coach Enzo Maresca, who Adarabioyo briefly worked with at the Etihad Stadium, helped the Blues to secure his signature.

Speaking to BBC Sport on Chelsea's pre-season tour of the United States, Adarabioyo said: “I had been fully focused on Fulham then conversations happened. Things like that happen with football, things happened quickly, but thankfully I'm here now.”

Manchester United were reported to have contacted Tosin at a very late stage in the process, but when asked about the Old Trafford club’s interest, he added: “You're better off asking my agent about that! Once I knew Chelsea were interested, I was fully focused on that.

“When it came down to it, to hear the project that's going on here, it's amazing. It’s an amazing project, an amazing club, so for me it was a no-brainer."

Chelsea are closing in on a double signing in the form of 19-year-old Boca Juniors defender Aaron Anselmino and Villarreal goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen.

Jorgensen is expected to challenge Robert Sanchez for his place.

So what do you think about the goalkeeper battle? Is it fair for Sanchez to be potentially ousted?

Let us know here, external

Nizaar Kinsella
BBC Sport football news reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez is ready to fight for his place amid talks to sign Villarreal's Filip Jorgensen.

The Blues goalkeeper started Chelsea's 2-2 draw with Wrexham in the first pre-season outing on tour of the United States.

But Jorgensen is expected to join Chelsea to add further competition in an already competitive goalkeeping environment.

When asked about remaining new manager Enzo Maresca's number-one option, Sanchez said: "You never know but at the moment I am training hard. Another goalkeeper? I know what I can bring to the team, what I can do and I am positive in myself."

The £25m signing from Brighton is expected to stay and battle for the number-one shirt as his rival Djordje Petrovic could potentially leave.

Sanchez's role in pre-season is helping him get a head start to adapt to Maresca.

"He explains everything really well. He is really involved in training and he makes it simple to understand,” Sanchez said of his new boss.

"We can see exactly what he wants so we can deliver when the time comes.

"Playing with my feet is my game. I feel comfortable with what he wants. It's totally different and the goalkeeper needs to show personality.

"I speak to him every day a little bit but have not been in his office for half an hour. We need to listen, follow and it's Maresca's time and if we get there it will be really, really good.

"If we get to the point where we understand perfectly his style, then it will be beautiful to watch, and with the changing room with these boys we can get into the top four and I believe we can do it."

The Premier League season is fast approaching and clubs are continuing their pre-season preparations.

Here are the teams in action on a busy Saturday.

All times BST

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Defender Malang Sarr has joined French club RC Lens after his contract at Chelsea expired.

The 25-year-old joined Chelsea in 2020 but struggled to hold down a place in the team and spent spells on loan at Porto and Monaco.

Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga could switch places with Real Madrid's 25-year-old Ukraine keeper Andriy Lunin in a swap deal. (AS - in Spanish), external

The Blues are close to signing 21-year-old Ivory Coast defender Guela Doue from Rennes in a £7.6m deal. (Sky Italy), external

Aston Villa are monitoring Borussia Dortmund and Germany winger Karim Adeyemi, 22, who has also attracted interest from Chelsea and Juventus. (Mail), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Friday's full gossip column