The Wales international is part of the Blues squad that have travelled to Los Angeles as part of our pre-season tour, with the defender declaring the upcoming campaign as a ‘big year’ for him for both club and country.

Ampadu, who enjoyed a productive spell on loan at Italian side Venezia last season, is expected to represent Wales at the World Cup in November and says he wants to play as much football as possible leading into that tournament.

Given his versatility, the former Exeter man could prove to be a useful asset for Tuchel this term and the defender caught up with us in LA to reveal how the week in the States has been.

‘It’s great here!’ Ampadu explained. ‘The weather is so good, the facilities are lovely and it’s certainly not a bad place to start pre-season.

‘The campus where we are playing is pretty impressive and hopefully this is the start of a good two weeks for us as a group.

‘Every season is a big season but I’d like to take some of the momentum from last year into this pre-season.

‘Everybody just wants to be on the pitch and thankfully I feel comfortable playing in more than one position. Hopefully I can get onto the pitch this season for Chelsea and help out the side. Wherever Thomas needs me, I’d be happy to play there. I’m more than comfortable playing, whether that’s at centre-back, in midfield or at right wing-back.

‘It’s a big year for me with the World Cup with Wales as well and I think because we’ve qualified for this, on the back off a couple of Euros qualifications, it shows where we are heading as a nation.

‘It was an unreal night [qualifying] and an unreal feeling and something we are all looking forward to. We’ve all said it before, but it really is a dream come true to qualify for a World Cup and all eyes on November.’