What Chelsea fans can expect during the international break | OneFootball

Cobham will be a quieter place as players fly out across the globe

The arrival of the newly elongated three-week international break means Chelsea do not play again until October 10 against Bournemouth.

The September and October international breaks have been wrapped into one, and that means a prolonged early-season rest for Xabi Alonso’s side, whose hugely disappointing 3-0 defeat at Brentford on Friday wiped some of the sheen off their bright start to the campaign and leaves them 10th in the Premier League table.

So which players are heading out to play for their countries in September and October, and which players will be staying put at Cobham?

Which players have been called up?

Goalkeeper Emi Martinez has been called up by Argentina for friendlies against Bolivia, Burkina Faso and Benin, as has midfielder Valentin Barco.

For France’s Nations League matches against Turkey, Belgium and Italy, Maxence Lacroix has been selected, while Pedro Neto has made the Portugal squad for new manager Jorge Jesus’s first games in charge against Wales, Norway and Denmark.

The sole Chelsea representative in Thomas Tuchel’s England squad for matches against Spain, Czechia and Croatia is the Blues’ £117million summer signing Morgan Rogers.

Jorrel Hato has made the Netherlands squad for matches against Germany, Greece and Serbia.

Both goalkeeper Mike Penders and midfielder Romeo Lavia have made the cut for Belgium, who face Italy, France and Turkey over the next three weeks.

Estevao, who missed the World Cup through injury, has been selected by Carlo Ancelotti as he prepares his Brazil team for friendly games against Australia and India.

Both Josh Acheampong and Jamie Gittens have been selected for England’s Under-21s, and Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli and Reggie Watson will both represent England U17s. Geovany Quenda is with Portugal’s U21s as they look to book their place at next summer’s European Championships at that level.

When they will be back?

Players should all be back in the two or three days leading up to Chelsea’s next match, the home league game at Stamford Bridge against Bournemouth on October 10.

While it is usually the case that South American players return slightly later from international duty than European players because they play a little later and have further to travel, that may not be the case this time as some teams, such as Argentina and Brazil, have only three fixtures scheduled when European teams each have four.

Who has not been called up?

Despite originally being handed an England recall by Tuchel, Cole Palmer withdrew from the squad on Monday. Standard Sport understands Palmer has a muscular injury which Chelsea are keen to manage in-house.

Moises Caicedo is missing Ecuador duty because of the calf injury that has limited his game time so far for Xabi Alonso, while Joao Pedro is out with injury so will play no part for Brazil despite Ancelotti’s initial intention to select him.

Reece James and Marco Palestra, due to load management and injury, have been left out by England and Italy respectively.

France did not call up Malo Gusto, while England did not select Jordan Henderson or Levi Colwill. Netherlands, who did include Hato, have not selected Emmanuel Emegha.