Heading into the 2022/23 season, currently only three of Chelsea's centre backs have played more than 1,000 Premier League minutes for the Blues in their career.
The departures of Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen on free transfers this summer have left Thomas Tuchel extremely short changed at the back and the German manager is doing all he can to bring in world class talent to shore up his defence. As the club prepares to leave Cobham, setting off for a pre-season tour of America, there have still been no completed incomings as of yet, with Raheem Sterling expected to be announced as the first signing for the team under Todd Boehly later this week.
Sterling's transfer will do little to soothe the fears that Chelsea's previously rigid defence under Tuchel could be floating away somewhat. football.london understands that deals for both Marcos Alonso and Cesar Azpilicueta were the topic of Boehly's 'meal' in Barcelona on Thursday, July 7. Losing two more senior players would leave Thiago Silva as the only central defender over the age of 23 at the club.
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This will likely mean that for the start of Chelsea's trip across the pond, Malang Sarr will get a sizeable chance to impress his manager. The Frenchman made eight league appearances last season and filled in during a tough season of injuries and Covid for Tuchel.
The 23-year-old was signed on a free transfer from Nice in 2020, before being loaned out to Porto for the 2020/21 campaign. Initially, it wasn't expected that Sarr would have a role under Tuchel, but being unable to bring in Jules Kounde, an issue that is still causing the club trouble, meant that Sarr was rewarded for his patience.
After a decent start to life in London Sarr's form trailed off towards the end of the season and he is now seen as replaceable within the squad given that Levi Colwill has returned from a promising loan spell at Huddersfield, and Nathan Ake is being keenly approached by the club. Sarr's long term future may well lie elsewhere, but he hasn't forgotten what he learned from is defensive partners last season.
Speaking about Rudiger and Christensen's departures, he said: "I wish them all the best because they are great guys, great team-mates, and we will miss them for sure. We're still waiting for some other players to return on Saturday because they've been in national tournaments. We need to prepare for the season because it's going to be a tough one, and we need everyone that's here with us to get ready to make it a great season."
As previously mentioned, Tuchel is working with a depleted squad for the time being, but that hasn't stopped him from getting his squad back into shape. "We started to train Saturday morning, a session in the morning and a bit of work in the gym before we trained again on Sunday," Sarr added.
"The manager came back on Monday and we started to train a bit harder in the morning. We do the physical work and fitness work but we still do ball play, position games and technical work which is really good for us. Little games with small goals, just to bring the intensity with the ball into it."
The German is renowned for his innovative training methods and ways of keeping tactical, fitness and technical work engaging for his players, but it's a trip to a new country that has excited Sarr the most. "I have never been there! I never went on big pre-season trips before, this is going to be the first one for me.
"Usually, when I was in my former clubs, we never really went far from our base so now I look forward to it because it's my first time going away for a pre-season and first time in America too. It will be nice to see the country, especially being with the club on a tour like this, bringing US energy to it and seeing how it is. I really look forward to playing the games with the team and to prepare for the season and work really hard.
"We know they love sports in America so they know how to do the facilities and to welcome people to work, and I know they like excellence, they always want to perform and I love performance. It's really good to be able to travel there and everything is set up for us to be able to prepare the season and perform."
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