Raheem Sterling appears to be on track to make his Chelsea debut in Wednesday’s exhibition game against MLS team Charlotte FC.

The 27-year-old forward traveled to Los Angeles to join Chelsea’s preseason tour before completing a £47.5 million signing from Premier League counterpart – Manchester City.

The Blues have already moved to Orlando, where they will be facing Charlotte FC on Wednesday before taking on their Premier League rivals – Arsenal on Saturday, after resting from their first friendly triumph over Club America in Las Vegas.

The Chelsea Boss – Thomas Tuchel announced that the English man – Sterling will be playing his first game and said he is eager to kick start his career with the Blues.

The German said;

“Raheem is absolutely ready to go. He will be on the pitch against Charlotte and we are happy about that. He is excited to play his first match. We had two intense training sessions on Monday and decided to do one more on Tuesday before we travel to Charlotte, then it’s all about the next step and the next step.“

Will Kalidou Koulibaly also make his Chelsea debut?

While Sterling is scheduled to make his Chelsea debut, Kalidou Koulibaly, another recent signing, may have fans wait a bit longer.

The center-back, like Sterling, also joined the rest of the team in the US after completing a £34 million summer transfer from Napoli over the weekend.

In response to whether the Senegal defender would play against Charlotte, Tuchel stated;

“We’re a bit torn so I have to speak to him about what we do. He did some training sessions now with us but he’s still in a very individual programme so no double sessions on the pitch. He trains with the team but there are players who are in the third week of preparation and on a completely different level of physical foundation so it’s not a good match for him to straight away play.”

The Chelsea head coach added;

“I don’t want to rule it out completely but it’s very likely that he maybe will not play and we will not see him on the pitch. I’m happy because he’s a calm guy and we can see his quality on the pitch. He has a certain personality that you feel when he’s there and that is good for us.”

𝑳𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒕? 𝑷𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒙!

Last Updated on July 20, 2022 11:47 am by Sir Kris