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Marco Palestra is getting closer to his Premier League debut after this week taking part in individual training with one of Xabi Alonso’s coaches at Cobham, Confidential can reveal.
That was a precursor to participating in Chelsea’s main sessions which would be the final step before being passed fit for selection. Alonso is keen to have him available, but learned his lesson when rushing back Moises Caicedo, who reinjured himself upon returning two weekends ago.
The manager has been preaching caution with both Palestra and Caicedo since that setback, with the Blues boss insisting he will only use the pair once he believes it does not represent a risk. Before the September international break, Chelsea have Hull at home and Brentford away.
Chelsea signed Palestra for £47million from Atalanta. He was named Serie A Defender of the Year while on loan at Cagliari last season, where he was named the fastest player in the division.
The 21-year-old Italian seems set to play an important role under Alonso after the wing back and full back was a feature throughout pre-season, starting in friendlies against Tottenham, Juventus, AC Milan and Real Sociedad.
However, Palestra was then missing from the first matchday squad that won 3-2 at Fulham and has not been seen since, including in Wednesday night's Carabao Cup clash with Leeds. Alonso said he picked up his problem in training a few days prior to travelling to Craven Cottage.
With sources saying Palestra is now involved in outdoor work, he appears to be nearing availability. Confidential asked Alonso earlier this week whether Caicedo was training, and Chelsea’s manager said he was, so the midfielder is likewise closing in on his own return.
Marco Palestra is getting closer to his Premier League debut with Chelsea after this week taking part in individual training, Confidential can reveal
Chelsea midfielder Moises Caicedo is likewise closing in on a return
CHELSEA LOSE SCOUT TO ADARABIOYO AGENCY
One of Chelsea’s leading scouts, Stewart Thompson, has left the club and joined the football agency, WNRS, headed up by Gbolahan Adarabioyo, the brother of Tosin. Thompson made the move to Chelsea as a first-team scout in 2023. Prior to that, he had been a UK and European scout for Manchester City since 2010.
WNRS handled Tosin’s switch to Tottenham on deadline day. That was understood to be worth an initial £10m with a further £2m in add-ons for Chelsea.
Spurs boss Roberto De Zerbi was said to play a pivotal role in that signing, along with securing Mykhailo Mudryk on a season-long loan with a £75m option to buy. In a blow to Tottenham, Mudryk has suffered an ankle injury in training and is set to be sidelined for several weeks.
Meanwhile, Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli, the 16-year-old academy prodigy who impressed on Chelsea’s pre-season tour of Australia and Asia, has also joined WNRS. The agency’s tagline is: ‘Football management – built for winners.’
Chelsea's Mykhailo Mudryk, who is on a season-long loan at Spurs, has suffered an ankle injury in training and is set to be sidelined for several weeks
ALONSO TURNS QUESTIONER
In between asking Alonso about free agents and Caicedo earlier this week at Cobham, Confidential wanted to know the Chelsea manager's thoughts on Morgan Rogers’ reaction when he shoved Declan Rice in their 2-1 loss to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
Whether he liked his player showing such passion. Whether he would have preferred his £117m summer signing to have kept a cool head. Alonso did answer, but only once he had asked Confidential a couple of his own questions first. Here’s how our exchange went:
CONFIDENTIAL: ‘Rogers got a yellow for shoving Rice – do you like that passion or would you rather he did not react?’
ALONSO: ‘Did you see the tackle?’
CONFIDENTIAL: ‘I did.’
ALONSO: ‘And?'
CONFIDENTIAL: ‘And Rice should have been the one booked with a Chelsea free-kick for the trip.’
ALONSO: ‘It was clear. It was pretty clear. It’s the emotion of the game. Sometimes, to be able to manage all of them, it’s difficult. We were trying to find the equaliser. Morgan saw the chance to get into the box. It was a tackle that was very… I don’t know how to say in English…’
CONFIDENTIAL: ‘Cynical?’
ALONSO: ‘Cynical – that’s a good one. He showed his frustration. But it’s part of the game.’
Morgan Rogers shows his frustration with Declan Rice after the Arsenal man's 'cynical' foul
CAS: NO CHELSEA CONTACT
Confidential checked in with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, who say there has been no request from Chelsea concerning how they missed out on signing Lamine Camara from Monaco on deadline day.
We have not heard of any desire to try to escalate that situation into a legal matter, either.
Chelsea remain disappointed with Monaco for how they pulled the plug on that £47m deal, but the noise coming back from inside Stamford Bridge is that they are moving on from what happened.
POCH: STRIP CHELSEA OF THE TITLE
If there was any doubt left within Chelsea that they should not have hired a head coach whose heart was still with Tottenham, Mauricio Pochettino may have just wiped that away.
In an hour-long interview conducted in London with various newspapers, Pochettino, now in charge of the United States, said Chelsea should be stripped of their 2017 Premier League title and that it should be awarded to Tottenham, who finished second that season.
That follows Chelsea being fined £10m this summer for breaching rules relating to payments to agents between 2009 and 2022. The club escaped sporting and retrospective sanctions.
Other than some raised eyebrows, it does not appear there will be an official response to Pochettino’s comments from Chelsea.
Pochettino, now in charge of the US national team, said Chelsea should be stripped of their 2017 Premier League title
GRAHAM POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S MOAN
Speaking of former Chelsea managers having a pop…
Graham Potter is currently the head coach of the Swedish national team and has been using his Instagram for some sly digs at his old club. The former Chelsea and West Ham boss was surprisingly frank after he uploaded some snaps of himself trying Pilates.
When one user commented: ‘Hopefully you are better at Pilates than you are a football manager.’
Potter replied: ‘I’ll try not to do Pilates in a dysfunctional place and I will be OK.’
When another user responded: 'Didn’t mind the money though, did you?’
Potter replied: ‘Absolutely not.’
They were West Ham fans to whom he was replying, so maybe he will still be welcomed back at Stamford Bridge should he ever want to survey a Swedish player for his national team.
Graham Potter tries a spot of Pilates - and posts it on his Instagram feed
And he was surprisingly frank in an the exchange with a West Ham fan that followed
GEORGE-OUS SAVING
Everton’s deal to sign Tyrique George was worth £24m – £18m plus £6m in add-ons – while Chelsea will retain a 15 per cent sell-on fee for any future sale.
It is already looking like a bargain from Everton’s perspective. Not only because of the 20-year-old’s goal against Manchester United at the weekend, but he can also help David Moyes with his striker shortage, having been used up front at Chelsea.
CHANCE FOR PAEZ TO GET BACK ON TRACK
There was considerable excitement before Kendry Paez arrived.
Chelsea secured him from Independiente del Valle in Ecuador on a pre-agreement worth £17.3m when he was 16 years old, and he arrived once 18. However, loans with sister side Strasbourg and Argentinian club River Plate did not go to plan amid speculation surrounding his lifestyle.
Chelsea tried to find him an English club to join on loan until the end of the summer but they were unable to do so. Now, he is 19, somewhat stuck, and not in Alonso’s first-team plans.
What it does give Paez is the chance to work with Chelsea staff for a few months at least, and hopefully that can do him some good. In the last two years, this South American teenager has lived in Ecuador, France, Argentina and England.
It has been a chaotic time for him, and hopefully he can use this period to focus on getting his once-promising career back on track.
Kendry Paez, 19, has been here, there and everywhere since joining Chelsea but is now with the club for a spell and can hopefully knuckle down
PANEL TO REVEAL GABRIEL VERDICT
The Premier League’s Key Match Incidents panel sit down each week to review the major refereeing decisions from every weekend, delivering a verdict on whether calls were right or wrong.
Previously, the results remained private, used only to tell Howard Webb’s organisation where their officials were in the wrong. As of this season, they are being made public.
That means by this time next week, we should know whether this panel believe Arsenal centre back Gabriel should have been in bother for kicking Chelsea goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez in the head during that Premier League showdown at the Emirates.
There are certainly some within Chelsea who think Gabriel got away with one. Alonso was asked for his take on the Gabriel-Martinez incident, but he said with a little smile at the end of his answer: ‘I have my opinion but we’ll leave it there.’
Arsenal's Gabriel kicks Chelsea keeper Emi Martinez in the head at the Emirates last weekend - but he escaped punishment
QUENDA ABSENCE – A TECHNICAL DECISION
Geovany Quenda was an unused substitute in the Carabao Cup against Leeds, having only appeared once in all competitions all season, coming on in the 82nd minute at Fulham in Chelsea’s first Premier League match of the campaign.
Sources close to Quenda say he is not carrying any injury, and that he is fully fit.
It appears, therefore, it is simply down to technical decisions that Alonso is not using the 19-year-old winger and wing back who arrived from Sporting CP this summer. Chelsea spent £40m to acquire him on a pre-agreement.
