‘I have never been there!’

Those are the excited words of Malang Sarr as he considers the next two weeks ahead of him, several days after returning to Cobham to begin training for the 2022/23 season.

This weekend, the location for the preparation changes from Surrey to the United States, with a week of training in Los Angeles before games in Las Vegas, Charlotte and Orlando, giving the defender his first opportunity to travel to that side of the Atlantic.

Click for tickets for the games in the USA

Given he is about to begin just his second season as part of the Chelsea squad and is still only 23 years old, and with Covid having disrupted the normal rhythm of football for a couple of years, not only America but the forthcoming experience in general is a new one for Sarr.

‘I never went on big pre-season trips before, this is going to be the first one for me,’ he confirms.

‘Usually, when I was in my former clubs, we never really went far from our base so now I look forward to it because it's my first time going away for a pre-season and first time in America too.

‘It will be nice to see the country, especially being with the club on a tour like this, bringing US energy to it and seeing how it is. I really look forward to playing the games with the team and to prepare for the season and work really hard.

‘We know they love sports in America so they know how to do the facilities and to welcome people to work, and I know they like excellence, they always want to perform and I love performance. It's really good to be able to travel there and everything is set up for us to be able to prepare the season and perform.’

Sarr says the squad are looking forward to putting on a show in the games they will play in the States, and he is refreshed after what was for him a six-week break before training began. The defender is part of the group of players who began pre-season last weekend, with only Ben Chilwell and Callum Hudson-Odoi starting earlier as they are coming back from injuries last season.

‘It is really good to be back to see the guys and the staff,’ Sarr says. ‘I had a good summer, spending the first three weeks with my family as it had been a long time since I had been able to sit down and spend real proper time when I have not been rushing anywhere. Then I spent a few weeks for me as well, working and relaxing so I’m able to come back and be ready for the new season.

‘We started to train Saturday morning, a session in the morning and a bit of work in the gym before we trained again on Sunday,’ he reports. ‘We had cardiac and blood tests.

‘The manager came back on Monday and we started to train a bit harder in the morning. We do the physical work and fitness work but we still do ball play, position games and technical work which is really good for us. Little games with small goals, just to bring the intensity with the ball into it.’

Since last season ended, there have been changes at Chelsea, not only in ownership but two of the players that Sarr shared defending duties with last season, Toni Rudiger and Andreas Christensen, have left.

‘I wish them all the best because they are great guys, great team-mates, and we will miss them for sure,’ he notes. ‘We're still waiting for some other players to return on Saturday because they've been in national tournaments. We need to prepare for the season because it's going to be a tough one, and we need everyone that's here with us to get ready to make it a great season.’