Raheem Sterling is set to make his first appearance as a Chelsea player in Wednesday night’s game against Charlotte FC.
The England forward, signed for £47.5million from Manchester City last week, could start the match as Thomas Tuchel steps up his team’s preparations ahead of the new season. Tuchel said: Raheem is absolutely ready to go. He will be on the pitch and I am happy about that and he is excited to play his first match.”
But £34million defender Kalidou Koulibaly is unlikely to feature with the Senegal international defender not yet at the level of his new team-mates in terms of his pre-season. Tuchel added: “We are a bit torn. He has done some training sessions with us but he is still in a very individual programme so no double sessions on the pitch.