Enzo Maresca will add at least four new players to his Chelsea squad over the coming days. The Blues are back in action next week as they look to become the first team to win the new-look FIFA Club World Cup.
Chelsea jetted off to the United States on Friday afternoon, taking 24 players to their training base in Philadelphia. The west London side, who have been drawn into Group D, won’t have long to adjust to their surroundings before they step on to the pitch.
On Monday night, Chelsea will lock horns with Los Angeles FC in their opening match. A few days later, Maresca’s side will meet Flamengo before playing Espérance Sportive de Tunis in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Should the Blues qualify for the knockout stages of the competition, they could then face the likes of Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid – and Maresca will want his squad ready to fire on all cylinders. Fortunately, Chelsea are set to add four new players to their squad.
The west London outfit has now confirmed that Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez, Aaron Anselmino and Andrey Santos will meet the rest of the squad in the United States, having not travelled from Crawley.
According to GiveMeSport journalist Ben Jacobs, Kendry Paez will now travel to Philadelphia to join the Chelsea set-up. It’s said that the 18-year-old midfielder, whom the Blues signed from Independiente del Valle for £17.5m in June 2023, hasn’t been registered to play, at least not for the group stages of the Club World Cup.
Jacobs claims that Paez will stay with Maresca’s squad and participate in training. In preparation for his arrival at Stamford Bridge, the teenage sensation trained with Strasbourg in April.
football.london understands that Paez was sent to work with Liam Rosenior’s side to help him acclimatise to European culture, which proved to be greatly beneficial for his development. Back in February, the Ecuadorian also spent some time at Chelsea’s training base in Surrey to begin his integration.
Speaking to FIFA ahead of the Club World Cup, Maresca outlined the club’s ambition to win the tournament. The Blues boss said: “When you are at Chelsea, your goal is always to win.
“Our goal – each and every single game – will always be to try to win them. You need to see it [replicating coaches of years gone by] as a source of fantastic motivation.
“When we’re there, that will be one of our goals; to try to win it,” added Maresca before commenting on Chelsea’s return to the United States. “We were there last summer, and it’s pretty great.
“The fans were mind-blowing from the get-go in America. There were many fans there, and it’s an opportunity for them to come to watch us and for us to meet them.
“There’s no doubt that it will be a great occasion. That was our first tour there [under my leadership]. There’s no doubt that now, come summer, they’ll have a much better team [to support]… As a team that has been working together for a year.
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to give them something to shout about…”
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