Chelsea quartet sent home from pre-season tour leaving futures in the balance
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Four players have left Chelsea’s pre-season training camp in America, with each of the quartet linked with moves away from the club this summer.
Armando Broja and Tino Anjorin have flown back to England, with the pair expected to spend next season elsewhere. West Ham are closing in on a deal to sign Broja in a deal worth £30million, with the player agreeing personal terms at the club and pushing for a permanent exit – after a loan move was discussed.
Anjorin is set to finalise a loan move away to the Championship, with Coventry, Norwich and QPR all registering their interest in the central midfielder. The 20-year-old joined Huddersfield on loan in the January transfer window last season, and they too are in the race for his signature.
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Midfielders Billy Gilmour and Harvey Vale have also left the squad, but they are joining up with the Blues’ academy squad rather than flying back to England. Both could spend next season out on loan next season, with a permanent exit unlikely given how highly thought of each of the pair are.
Gilmour has been linked with a loan move to Everton this summer, though that move will certainly be impacted by Conor Gallagher – who has also been tipped with making the move to Goodison Park. No two players can join the same club on loan according to new loan regulations.
Speaking about the four players leaving the training camp, Blues boss Thomas Tuchel said: “It is a very difficult decision because nobody deserves to go. I would have loved to have had everybody here because Tino [Anjorin], Harvey [Vale] and Billy [Gilmour] had trained at a very high level and it would also have been nice to see them in some matches.
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"But in the end, we had to take the decision to keep the quality high in training so we decided for 24 players as a maximum and that’s why we went a bit smaller."
Chelsea have already been busy in the summer transfer window, and more incomings are expected. The club announced the signings of Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly last week and Tuchel looks to bolster his ranks to close the gap between themselves and Liverpool and Manchester City.
The Stamford Bridge outfit are set to sign at least one more central defender before the start of next season too, with two defensive recruits more likely. The Blues are in talks with France internationals Presnel Kimpembe (PSG) and Jules Kounde (Sevilla), with Tuchel keen to seamlessly replace Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen.
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- Chelsea FC
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