Thomas Tuchel has settled on a squad of 24 for the remaining sessions and games before heading back to England and with Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly joining up while in the west of the States, three younger players, Tino Anjorin, Billy Gilmour and Harvey Vale have departed for pre-season elsewhere while Armando Broja has returned to the UK due to injury.

‘It is never easy and I did not like to do it because everybody deserves to stay with the squad,’ Tuchel explained about the decision to cut the numbers, ‘but we have a very big squad already and then players came additionally and some other players like Mateo Kovacic are now fit to train with the group again.’

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The three fit players leaving are staying in the States. They are joining up with Chelsea’s development squad which is playing in a five-team tournament in Salt Lake City, Utah.

‘It is a very difficult decision because nobody deserves to go,’ continued Tuchel.

‘I would have loved to have everybody here because Tino, Harvey and Billy have trained on a very high level and it would have been also nice to see them in some matches, but in the end we had to take the decision to keep the quality up high in training so we decided on 24 players as a maximum. That is why we made the group a bit smaller.’

On Broja heading back to Cobham, Tuchel said: ‘He had a little accident in training, he twisted his ankle and he needs further examination and treatment in London.

‘It did not make sense to just have him as an additional player as we need all capacities of treatment for the guys who are actually fit and on the pitch. The best way for him to get the best treatment and come back on the pitch as soon as possible is to leave for London and get the treatment there.’

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