Chelsea have announced the squad that will travel on their pre-season tour to the United States and there were some noticeable absences with Trevoh Chalobah and Alfie Gilchrist left off the list by Enzo Maresca. 

Both players featured for the Blues last season as Mauricio Pochettino trusted the two defensive stars at points throughout the campaign.

Gilchrist featured in 11 Premier League matches after the 20-year-old was handed his senior debut by the Argentine coach when he came on as a substitute against Crystal Palace back in December. The 2023/24 season was an important one for the young defender and he is now expected to go on loan to gain further experience.

According to Fabrizio Romano, the Englishman has received two loan proposals for the upcoming season from Preston and Sheffield United. The youngster will pick his favourite destination over the coming days and it is the reason he has not been taken on Chelsea’s pre-season tour.

Chalobah’s story is a lot different as his Chelsea exit has been written on the walls at Stamford Bridge for some time.

Trevoh Chalobah’s time at Chelsea is coming to an end

Chalobah has been told that he will be staying in London while the rest of the Chelsea squad travels to the United States as the Premier League club feel that they already have enough defensive options with Wesley Fofana, Axel Disasi and Tosin Adarabioyo, states Fabrizio Romano.

The West London outfit will also take 18-year-old Josh Acheapong with them to America as Maresca wants to use this time to evaluate the young defender.

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This latest decision from Chelsea regarding Chalobah signifies that the centre-back will leave the Blues this summer as he is fit again compared to the January transfer window.

The 25-year-old also played 17 times for the Premier League club last season and finished the campaign as a starter, which would have given interested clubs a good look at the English defender before this summer’s transfer window opened.

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Chelsea defender Alfie Gilchrist is reportedly likely to go out on loan in this summer’s transfer window and could link up with former Blues midfielder Cesc Fabregas at Italian club Como.

Gilchrist has long been highly regarded after rising up through Chelsea’s academy, but it looks like it will still be difficult for him to see much in the way of first-team football any time soon.

According to The Athletic, Gilchrist is now expected to be loaned out for the 2024/25 season, and Serie A new-boys Como are being reported as one potential destination for the 20-year-old.

This could end up being a fine move for Gilchrist to get more playing time and to work under an exciting young coach in Fabregas, at an ambitious up-and-coming club.

Gilchrist transfer: How highly rated is the Chelsea youngster?

We’ve seen a lot of top talents come up through the Chelsea academy in recent times, with the likes of Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Fikayo Tomori all playing at big clubs elsewhere, while Reece James, Trevoh Chalobah and Levi Colwill are part of the CFC first-team.

Gilchrist is another product of this strong youth system in place at Stamford Bridge, and Chelsea scout Sean Conlon previously told CaughtOffside about how highly he rated him a few years ago.

“Alfie Gilchrist, he’s the Chelsea Under-23s captain. He’s only 18 but he could be the next John Terry, he’s a really good player,” Conlon told us at the time.

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“I’m a huge fan of his. I coached him and spent a lot of time with him. I’m hoping he goes on to do big things. At 18 he’s captain of the Under-23s and I think he’s got great promise, though I’m potentially a bit biased!”

It will be interesting to see if a loan move helps Gilchrist come back and challenge for a place at Chelsea or if it just puts him in the shop window for a future permanent sale.

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Chelsea defender Alfie Gilchrist has been linked to Leeds United and is reportedly amenable to the notion of joining the team on loan this summer.

After missing out on promotion, Leeds United are preparing for another Championship season.

It has been generally known that the summer would be difficult since player sales will be necessary and important players will undoubtedly leave Elland Road.

Journalist Ben Jacobs revealed that Leeds wants to recruit Alfie Gilchrist in a loan move this summer.

In the 2023-24 season, the 20-year-old broke through into the Stamford Bridge starting lineup and attracted interest from Championship teams.

Jacobs has mentioned that the Whites are interested in a season-long loan and also names Blackburn Rovers and Preston as the club interested in the Premier League player.

Leeds might not be able to complete a deal until after preseason, according to Jacobs, who gave an update on potential move on the Just Joe Football Show.

He said: “The feeling is he will be loaned out to a Championship club, that’s the plan and the player’s intent. It’s very unlikely in the position he plays that Chelsea will think otherwise, the only question mark is when in the window as sometimes clubs like Chelsea want to take the player over to pre-season first.

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“I am sure in the coming weeks he will end up at a Championship club, but it might be more like late July or early August because of what I said. You’ve got Leeds, Preston and Blackburn as the clubs who have made a formative approach.

“To all intents and purposes Gilchrist would be open to a Leeds move. He has great respect, Chelsea and Leeds have a great rivalry but nonetheless, he would go there. He would be very willing to help Leeds fight and get promoted.”

Gilchrist move makes sense for Leeds United and the player

Joe Rodon and Connor Roberts left Elland Road following the end of their loan deals, so signing Gilchrist makes sense for Leeds United.

The player is capable of playing as a right-back as well as a centre-back and signing him would add depth and quality to the Leeds backline.

Leeds United might be the ideal location for the defender to start as he aims to build on his remarkable breakthrough season with Chelsea.

The post Premier League speedster agrees to join Leeds United for next season appeared first on CaughtOffside.

Leeds United are looking to start their transfer business early this summer as they aim to get promoted to the Premier League next season.

The Whites lost the Championship play-off final against Southampton and failed to join Leicester City and Ipswich Town as the Championship sides in the Premier League last season.

After an impressive season when it looked like a certainty that they will get promoted to the top flight of English football, their season fell apart in the last few months.

The likes of Crysencio Summerville, Archie Gray and Wilfried Gnonto are set to leave the club due to their failure to get promoted.

Meanwhile, the Whites are looking to bring in new players to help their cause next season.

According to journalist Ben Jacobs, Leeds United are interested in signing Chelsea defender Alfie Gilchrist, who could leave the Blues on loan ahead of next season.

The young defender is a fan favourite at Stamford Bridge and he is highly rated by the west Londoners.

The 20-year-old made his breakthrough into the Chelsea senior team last season, but in order to get more first-team experience, he is anticipated to move out on loan this summer.

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The defender, who played 11 times in the Premier League under former manager Mauricio Pochettino, is attracting interest from Leeds, Preston, and Blackburn for the 2024–25 season.

A move away from Chelsea would be ideal for Gilchrist’s career as he would gain experience and get more playing time at Elland Road.

Gilchrist began his career with Queens Park Rangers and joined the Blues academy in 2014.

Leeds United would be getting a talented player

After a brilliant first season under Pochettino’s tutelage, he advanced through the academy at the Cobham training center and was voted the club’s academy player of the year.

Leeds would be getting one of the best young talents in the Premier League if they can go ahead with the move for the defender.

If Gilchrist’s stint with Leeds goes well, he’ll be hoping to make even more progress at Chelsea and eventually establish himself as a starter for the team.

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Chelsea have hit relegation-threatened Everton for six at Stamford Bridge.

It’s been a disastrous performance from Everton but an outstanding one for Chelsea in contrast. And what a way to cap it off by having boyhood Blues fan Alfie Gilchrist fire home his first ever Premier League goal.

The 20-year-old centre-back certainly didn’t look like a defender with the way he dispatched his opportunity. With 90 minutes on the clock, Gilchrist latched onto a rebound from Jordan Pickford at the far post and he thundered home his volley.

??| GOAL: Gilchrist makes it SIX!

Chelsea 6-0 Everton pic.twitter.com/vamPsXk3Gf

— CentreGoals. (@centregoals) April 15, 2024

Chelsea are three points behind sixth place Newcastle United and they also have a game in hand on the Magpies.

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This article was originally published on Fabrizio Romano’s Daily Briefing, a subscription service. If you would like to receive Fabrizio Romano’s exclusive transfer news via email ahead of publication on caughtoffside.com, please sign-up for the service here: thedailybriefing.io

Chelsea star could go out on loan after signing new contract until 2026

Chelsea have tied Alfie Gilchrist down to a new deal until June 2026 with an option for a further year. The Blues academy graduate has established himself in the London club’s first-team squad this season under Mauricio Pochettino and has made 12 senior appearances throughout the current campaign.

Next season it is possible that the defender will go out on loan, internal talks are still taking place over this but for sure Chelsea believe that he’s an important talent to develop for the future.

That’s why the West London club wanted to make sure his contract situation was 100% sorted with a good salary and why they decided to proceed with offering Gilchrist a new deal. The player is super happy about this latest contract as he loves Chelsea and will try to make steps forward within the club over the coming years.

Aaron Ramsdale can’t stay on the Arsenal bench forever

There have been reports of Newcastle being interested in Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsdale ahead of the summer transfer window and I can say that it’s still too early to understand what Newcastle can do in terms of investments.

As for the player himself, for sure Ramsdale will consider his future this summer as the Englishman has lost his place as Arsenal’s number-one goalkeeper this season to David Raya. The Spaniard will move from Brentford ahead of the 2024/25 campaign and the Gunners could be open to letting Ramsdale go if good proposals arrive.

Ramsdale can’t stay on the bench forever and the plan to leave Arsenal is considered a possibility.

Busy summer ahead for Tottenham and Ange Postecoglou

Speaking ahead of Tottenham’s match with West Ham on Tuesday night, Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou said: “I’m not going to let this club rest on where we finish this year. I am here to win, I want to win.

“Where we finish this season should be a foundation for us being better next year.”

I really think Postecoglou has done an excellent job since moving to Tottenham from Celtic last summer and these words show the ambition he has for the North London club.

The move was not an easy one for him as it is a big Premier League club, he lost the club’s best player in Harry Kane at the start of the season, he had to work with a young squad and there is a lot of pressure being manager of Spurs, so I think he has done very well.

The players are super happy with Ange and the relationship the former Celtic coach has with the Tottenham board is also excellent. They made some very good signings last summer and I think Vicario has been one of their best, along with James Maddison and others.

I think the upcoming summer transfer window will be a busy one for Tottenham as they will look to add in multiple positions, not just one.

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Roberto De Zerbi was never a Liverpool frontrunner

Reports have suggested that Brighton’s Roberto De Zerbi is not one of the leading candidates to succeed Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool manager and as I’ve clearly said, the Italian coach was never a frontrunner for the job.

De Zerbi has had contacts with Bayern Munich over the vacant role in Germany but he has never had them with Liverpool. The Premier League club only discussed the Brighton boss internally as they continue to search for their new manager.

Liverpool are still considering all of their options but Sporting CP’s Ruben Amorim is the favourite candidate, however, nothing is done with the Portuguese coach.

No price tag set for Kalvin Phillips as Man City plan to sell

It has been a tough few months for Kalvin Phillips at West Ham since making the loan move to London during the January transfer window as things have not gone to plan for the player who just wanted to play more football.

Man City’s plan is to sell the midfielder permanently this summer and they hope to receive a good proposal and are open to offers. There have been reports of a £30m transfer fee but I can tell you guys that the price tag has not been decided yet.

It’s still too early to mention interested clubs but for sure Man City will be open to discussions.

Barcelona defender yet to decide his future

Marcos Alonso will leave Barcelona as a free agent at the end of the current season and it is simply a result of club strategy as the Catalan club want to go with something different in that position and Marcos knows that as it’s all clear between parties. There is massive respect between the club and player but he will leave in June.

Alonso will now look for new opportunities as a free agent and I’m not aware of any agreement between the defender or any club yet, despite reports in Spain linking him to Atletico Madrid.

It’s still an open situation and Alonso will take his time to decide what step to take next in his career.

The post Transfer news: Chelsea star could leave on loan, Aaron Ramsdale exit a possibility, no price set for Kalvin Phillips by Man City & more appeared first on CaughtOffside.

Alfie Gilchrist has penned a new deal at Chelsea keeping him at Stamford Bridge until 2026 but the defender could be loaned out ahead of the 2024/25 season. 

The 20-year-old has been at Chelsea his whole career having come through the London club’s youth setup and the current campaign has seen him make a breakthrough into the senior team.

Mauricio Pochettino has played Gilchrist in 12 matches this season and the youngster has clearly impressed as Chelsea have given him a new deal.

The defender has put pen to paper on a contract that keeps him at Stamford Bridge until 2026 with an option of a further year, but could he be loaned out next season?

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Chelsea could loan Alfie Gilchrist out next season

Writing in his latest exclusive column for CaughtOffside, Fabrizio Romano has said that it is possible Gilchrist could be sent to another club to gain experience next season after signing his new deal.

“Next season it is possible that the defender will go out on loan, internal talks are still taking place over this but for sure Chelsea believe that he’s an important talent to develop for the future,” the transfer journalist stated.

“That’s why the West London club wanted to make sure his contract situation was 100% sorted with a good salary and why they decided to proceed with offering Gilchrist a new deal. The player is super happy about this latest contract as he loves Chelsea and will try to make steps forward within the club over the coming years.”

The post Exclusive: Chelsea star could be loaned out for 2024/25 season after signing new deal appeared first on CaughtOffside.

Sean Conlon is a busy man. The founder of the We Make Footballers project also works part time as a scout with Chelsea, and sums up his workload when he tells me about an email he received the morning after the Champions League final on May 29th.

“Even when we won the Champions League you’re getting emails literally the next day being like ‘Guys! Where’s the best six-year-old? We can’t miss out on this player!'” Conlon says. “The culture at Chelsea is that we never stand still, we always want to be better.”

It’s a philosophy Conlon has very much taken into his work with young footballers, largely across different areas of London. We Make Footballers have been running for 15 years now, and have 5000 players signed up to their skills school.

With footballers being signed up by club academies at an even earlier age now, Conlon wants to be a key part of their journey to a career in the Premier League, with a growing number of his players now joining top academies.

“Every year we get players signed by the top tier academies,” he says. “That means we now have links with the top Premier League clubs. I’m a scout with Chelsea, I’ve been with them for 13 years and done some coaching with the club too. I’ve taken a lot of what I’ve done there and brought it to We Make Footballers. We’re in the process now of going international as well and setting up in other countries, which is really exciting.”

But Conlon’s tireless approach to his job is in no way reflective of the workload he puts on the youngsters signed up to We Make Footballers. “At a younger age it’s very much about getting the player to fall in love with football, that’s the key,” he says. “We want them doing two hours practice a day, not every kid will be up for that and not every parent will want that, so it comes down to their ambitions. What we want to do is just to get the player to love the game, to love football.”

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For many years English football has been behind the likes of Germany, France and Spain in terms of producing technical players, but Conlon believes his approach, which is increasingly shared by Gareth Southgate and other influential figures in the English game, means this country is now catching up, and we’re seeing the rewards with skilled attacking players like Jadon Sancho and Phil Foden coming through.

“We like to let the game be the teacher, and this is something the FA have been pushing in the last seven years,” he says. “The FA have gone through a lot of changes, and a lot of people might not be aware of it, but that’s why our national team is now seeing the benefits of those changes, and our youth teams coming through are so strong.

“There’s also been great work by the Premier League, all that investment is being pushed into academies and that’s helped things. The Premier League clubs see how well Chelsea in particular are benefiting from young English players coming through, so they want to keep pumping money into making sure we have the best academies in the world. Every session we work on having 500 touches of the ball, with minimal coach intervention. Players are literally just touching the ball, getting into good habits and getting inspired. The combination of that and the connection with the academies is helping these players become all that they can be.”

Conlon is certainly justified in highlighting Chelsea’s success in this department in particular. For so long the Blues were more well known for splashing the cash on the biggest stars from abroad, but two homegrown youngsters in Reece James and Mason Mount started that Champions League final victory over Manchester City, with Callum Hudson-Odoi and Billy Gilmour among the substitutes.

Chelsea, Conlon says, are always innovating, and he’s given fans of the west London giants reason to believe there’ll be even more top talents coming up into the first-team in the near future, with one name in particular catching his eye.

“I get to go to Cobham, and I get to see the great training that happens,” he says. “Chelsea are always innovating with their academy. I see myself being involved with them because it’s so good for my development.

“I’ve been doing this for 15 years, so some of my players are starting to get to 18 or 19. Alfie Gilchrist, he’s the Chelsea Under-23s captain. He’s only 18 but he could be the next John Terry, he’s a really good player.

“I’m a huge fan of his. I coached him and spent a lot of time with him. I’m hoping he goes on to do big things. At 18 he’s captain of the Under-23s and I think he’s got great promise, though I’m potentially a bit biased!”

What is it that Chelsea are getting so right with their youth development? “I think it’s a lot to do with the culture at Chelsea,” he says. “They have an incredible organisation that I think in the future people will write books about, I think that highly of Chelsea’s academy. It’s quite regular now that we have four or five academy players starting in the first-team.

“It’s a real family club, they care about everyone working at the club, the players and their families. Not every player can be a Chelsea player but they’re then brought through as coaches. And players when they leave Chelsea still speak highly of the club because it was a great education for them.

“Neil Bath our academy director, he’s an incredible guy. He had a vision from the start, and you can just see – it’s hard to describe – but it’s a cultural thing, being the best you can be, and we’re asking of that of all our players and everyone who works at Chelsea.”

Reece James surpassing expectations at Chelsea following surprise transfer saga

Has Chelsea’s philosophy inspired Conlon’s methods at We Make Footballers? “Oh yeah absolutely,” he says. “We obviously don’t have the resources that Chelsea have, but we still try and create the best environment we can, even if it’s not a multi-million pound training complex.”

Conlon still thinks there are things the English game could be doing better, however, as he explains that there’s very little emphasis on teaching younger players about tactics.

Even though he understands the benefits of getting kids to enjoy the game when they first start out before learning the more complicated sides of it later, he does also feel there’s room to challenge the country’s young players a bit more.

“In our program it’s purely fundamentals, and it’s similar in academies, until the age of 7 or 8 they’re not doing team shape or anything remotely tactical,” he says. “We’re looking at players with great athletic potential and getting them familiar with their technical work, and then when they’re older they’re learning more about tactical decision-making.

“That could be an area of improvement in my opinion, but we’re kind of catering for the academies – we know what they want, and that’ll get us maybe 20 players signed per season. We’ve found that works, so it’s not necessarily our job to do the tactical work.

“I feel optimistic. We are producing the most technically gifted players and the most athletic players. However, we have more work to do on personality and character, as well as the tactical work.

“Some of the best English players, you look at how they’ve developed, there’s a lot of street football, and academies are looking to recreate that, with an emphasis on ball familiarity.

“Glen Hoddle’s said just get the players as comfortable on the ball as possible, and then by the time they’re 12 you can start focusing on tactics and game management. That’s maybe a bit extreme, I think players can be challenged tactically when they’re younger, but I also see why it’s good to have an emphasis on ball familiarity.

“A lot of what we do does make players enjoy attacking and makes them more skilful, and there maybe is starting to be a lack of defensive player, and pivot players as well, that’s something we struggle with in this country.”

Conlon points to England’s defeat to Italy in the Euro 2020 final as an example of this: “In the process of developing the players, we’re potentially starting to see players now who are different personality-wise to characters like Rio Ferdinand, you know, those big leaders that we saw in the old days.

“Potentially I’m just being really nostalgic, I could be wrong, but I look at Italy in the Euros and I feel they didn’t have as technically gifted players as England, but they had more character than us, more personality, and a bit more understanding. That’s potentially where we’re falling a bit short and there’s more work to be done.”

Another player Conlon is a big fan of is Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott, a talented young player he spent a lot of time working with from a young age. As well as possessing immense natural ability, Conlon points to the 18-year-old as one of the youngsters coming through who doesn’t need to learn too much about having a strong personality as he backs him to bounce back from the disappointment of his injury this season.

“I was really involved in his journey: I was his scout, I was his coach for two years, I know his dad well. I’m really happy to see his progress,” he says.

“With Harvey, I was working with QPR at that time, and I was told by a Chelsea scout that there was a top teenager in Surrey that I should look at. We arranged a game with his team and he really stood out. He was a small player in that group, because he’s an April birthday, but he was so technical and so intelligent.

“I invited him to QPR and after just one training session I offered him a contract for the next two seasons. His technique and in-game intelligence was incredible, he was already playing like a little adult.

“As well as being a scout at QPR, I was a coach and I coached him twice a week for two years. It was great seeing his development, he could do 500 kick-ups at the age of eight!

“He’s got huge, huge potential. With Harvey, when he was the youngest player to play in the Premier League and break Wayne Rooney’s record, I was so, so happy for him. Every moment along his journey I’ll always text his dad, reach out to him. I’m sure he’ll come through this injury, he’s really hard working and I’m sure he’s going to be a star.”

In terms of how far Elliott can go, Conlon seems confident the sky’s the limit, saying: “At Liverpool, Klopp seems to like his connection with Salah, they look like they connect well. I think he’ll play on that right-hand side and maybe he’ll even go on to be Salah’s replacement!”

Sean Conlon also speaks on the Project Footballer Podcast, which you can follow here.

The post Exclusive: Chelsea scout Sean Conlon on the academy’s success and the wonderkid who looks like “the next John Terry” appeared first on CaughtOffside.