Chelsea's poor end to pre-season was given one big confidence boost heading into the new campaign.
Although the club have only been able to get two transfers across the line, with many more still in the pipeline, the performances of Kalidou Koulibaly and Raheem Sterling, albeit in small doses, did provide reason to be hopeful for worried Chelsea fans.
Thomas Tuchel's newest centre-back was only present for 2 -minutes against Arsenal but the former Napoli man still demonstrated why the Blues offered him a lengthy contract despite being 31-years-old.
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The German manager has already issued an urgent plea for more new signings as Todd Boehly continues to search long and hard across Europe for the right profile of player for Tuchel. And the Champions League winning boss would rather keep to coaching, saying, "It’s not my favourite thing to do [having power on transfer activities] and in the long run, the focus has to be on coaching because that is why I am here. But at the moment of course my help is needed and wanted and is of course necessary that I step up and take the responsibility."
However, if he can oversee even a small percentage of his rebuild, moving on squad players and members that are keen on leaving the club whilst also bringing in several new additions, his job will be complete for this summer as attention turns back to winning matches.
His key for that could be getting the best out of Sterling, a statement signing for Boehly in his first window. The English winger already has experience playing with several of the current squad, and Ross Barkley admitted that this has already helped the players get used to their new teammate.
"I've played with Raheem as well, he's a good character and a top professional," he told Chelsea's 'Mic'd Up' podcast. "I can see when he's mixing with the other wingers and attackers right now, getting to know what they like and their movement in training.
"Through playing with him for England you know he's always going to penetrate in behind so he's fast and intelligent and he's always going to score goals as well. What he's going to bring to the group is going to be perfect for the style that we play."
Barkley was part of the 29-man squad that went to America and remained in the reduced 24-man group as well. His contract, a long with a host of other senior players', runs out next summer and the club are still looking to move him on this window if possible, but it hasn't stopped him being excited for the rest of the summer transfer business to come.
"There's going to be more signings coming in, there's going to be changes. The window is still open for a while so there's going to be people coming and going and Chelsea looks to improve every year and to win trophies," he added.
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