The Chelsea Players Picked To Train Away From Xabi Alonso’s Main Squad - Full Reasons Revealed | OneFootball

Preparations are well underway for Chelsea's season-opener against Fulham. Video Credit: Absolute Chelsea

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Several Chelsea players, including Liam Delap and Nicolas Jackson, are training separately from Xabi Alonso’s first-team squad ahead of the start of the season.

As it stands, Chelsea still have 41 players listed as first-team players on their website.

Even without a few academy stars on the list, such as Landon Emenalo, Reggie Watson, Tayo Subuloye, and Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli, the squad remains too big, and many players will not make the cut for the new season.

There is less than a week for Alonso to prepare for the season-opening game against west London neighbours Fulham at Craven Cottage on Monday, August 24, so he understandably wants to focus his preparation on a smaller group.

As revealed by The Telegraph, the decision splits the squad into two groups: the first team and a second group.

It is not exactly a “bomb squad” in the way Raheem Sterling and Axel Disasi had to train separately from the first team on different pitches and at different times last season.

The second group still train at the same time as the main group and share the same pitches, just separately.

Delap and Jackson are understood to be in the second group, and so are Disasi and Tosin Adarabioyo, who have all been linked with potential summer exits.

Delap and Jackson’s presence in the second group may have confirmed that Joao Pedro, Danny Welbeck, and Emmanuel Emegha are going to be Chelsea’s three striker options for the 2026/27 season.

Emegha, who joined from Strasbourg this summer, is confirmed to have been training with the main group.

The second group does not just consist of the players Chelsea are looking to sell this summer.

A few other players who could leave on loan, such as Mykhailo Mudryk, are also said to be in this group.

Chelsea are said to have used the second group to allow certain players, such as Welbeck and Jordan Henderson, to work on their fitness, so they have been training with both groups.

Interestingly, Enzo Fernandez, Pedro Neto, and Malo Gusto remain in the main group despite links to potential exits.

This suggests that, unlike those in the second group, Chelsea still see these three as valuable members in their plans and are not actively looking to offload the trio.

£120 million-rated Fernandez continues to be linked with a potential move to Manchester City, while Neto, who is valued at close to £100m by Chelsea, has attracted interest from several clubs, including Saudi club Al-Hilal.