Some of Chelsea’s stars were ‘ready to return home’ after their hefty defeat to Arsenal during pre-season, according to reports.
As the Blues’ summer tour of the United States came to a close, Thomas Tuchel’s side faced one final test against their London rivals in Orlando.
However, come full-time, Chelsea had lost 4-0 against the Gunners and soon left the States with just one win from their summer schedule.
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They had also netted just three times in as many games, with two of the goals coming in the first match against Club America.
Such a performance has now raised questions as to whether or not Chelsea are ready to compete on all fronts next season, with their first game of the campaign set to take place next week.
Tuchel revealed after the Arsenal match that he isn't certain his side will be ready for their opener against Everton: "I can not guarantee.
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“I saw today a team in Arsenal who are mentally committed to an idea of playing, a level of exhaustion, a level of physical commitment that we could not match.
"Also, a level of mental commitment that we lacked because we have a lot of players who are thinking about leaving and looking at their options. We have players that have left and I think at the moment that's obvious."
He later spoke about their lack of goals during the summer, adding: “If you look at the first half, it was even hard to escape our half in a productive way and to play in the opponent’s half in a positive way and create chances – we had one chance with a shot (that hit the post).
"But the amount of dangerous situations, the amount of one against ones, the amount of accelerations in the second half, where we dominated the game and were the better team in the first 22 minutes, but with their first action they score and we didn't have too many dangerous situations (after that).
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"Listen, it's the same players, so why should anything change?
“We will see hopefully development but at the moment, we have the same issues because we have the same players."
It now appears as though some of the squad were weary from their travels across the United States, with the club taking a total of four flights in six days at one point during the tour.
As reported by football.london, many members of the Chelsea squad were ‘ready to return home’ and head back to Cobham ahead of the start of the new season.
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They will play one final friendly this week before they begin their preparations for their trip to Everton; an away fixture at Udinese awaits them on Friday evening.
Whilst the club have been able to bring in new signings in the transfer market, there is still work to be done in terms of outgoings.
Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly are their only two additions so far, with a move for Jules Kounde breaking down.
Cesar Azpilicueta, Marcos Alonso and Timo Werner all said to be keen to leave the club this summer, with the first two both being linked with moves to Barcelona.
Robert Calcutt