In this weekly series we look at three points of interest across the Club.
Chelsea Women Ready for the Season
Chelsea’s women have had a somewhat truncated pre-season, drawing 1-1 with Ajax on 17th August and beating AC Milan 4-1 on 30th, with a smattering of behind closed doors games.
One player who sticks out as being ready for the season is the same one who may feel aggrieved not to have her 2024/2025 campaign acknowledged with an award, Aggie Beaver-Jones. The academy star netted a hattrick against Milan, all with her supposedly weaker left foot. She will likely start the season opener against Man City due to injury concerns to both Kerr and Ramirez.
New signings have been made to bolster the side ahead of a season where they will look to defend all three domestic trophies.
Rebecca Spencer returns in goal, alongside Livia Peng. Highly decorated right-back Ellie Carpenter joins from Lyon and young striker Mara Alber joins from Hoffenheim. These players like replace the outgoing Musovic, Lawrence and Fishel.
The deadline for signing new players in the WSL is Thursday 4th September.
A Mixed Bag from the Youth Teams
As is usually the case with youth football, the results have been a little all over the place at the beginning of the season. This week the U21s lost 3-1 to Shrewsbury in the EFL trophy, then beat Villa 2-1 in the league, while the U18s drew 3-3 with Sheffield United in the PL Cup and beat Villa 6-1.
It was great to see Richards score after a long injury layoff and Sol Gordon getting a hattrick, but the pick of the bunch was a wonderful winner from Leo Cardoso in added time.
The U21s sit top of the PL2 with three wins. The U18s meanwhile are third with two wins. Both maintain their unbeaten starts, but have faltered in the domestic cups.
Men’s Team Finalize Their Squad
As is becoming the norm, the final few days of the summer transfer window were frantic.
Chelsea missed out on Xavi Simons and Fermin Lopez, and unexpectedly ended up with Buonanotte joining on loan from Brighton. Garnacho finally joined, and actually watched the win over Fulham, while his left wing competition Tyrique George had a move to our West London rivals fall through.
Carney, Anselmino and Jackson all left for the Bundesliga; the former on a permanent deal, the Argentine a loan, and the latter on loan with an obligation based on appearances. Nkunku meanwhile went to AC Milan. This triggered a recall for Guiu from Sunderland, who will likely be cover for Pedro while Delap is injured.
As for the academy, there were permanent exits for:
Broja, Campbell, Gilchrist, Humphreys, Sturge, Washington and Williams.
The following youngsters will spend the season on loan:
Castledine (Shrewsbury), Hughes (Wimbledon), Kellyman (Cardiff), Morgan (Peterborough), Samuels-Smith (Swansea), Sharman-Lowe (Bolton), Stutter (Barnet).
We wish Chelsea near and far all the best for the upcoming season!
The Chelsea Spot 
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