Three of Chelsea’s European Champions League-winning team are in Gareth Southgate’s 26-strong England squad for the delayed Euro 2020 tournament which starts next week.
Mason Mount, Ben Chilwell and Reece James are all confident of playing some part in the competition, and could get their first outing in a friendly against Romania this Sunday.
But it’s shaping up to be a busy summer for most of the Blues’ internationals.
Midfielder Jorginho and defender Emerson are expected to represent Italy at the opening game in Rome on Friday 11 June. Jorginho, who already has 27 caps, has caught the eye of the Italian manager Roberto Mancini, while Emerson will be making his first appearance as left back at a finals tournament.
Meanwhile, Olivier Giroud, N’Golo Kante and Kurt Zouma are in the French squad, Michy Batshuayi will be playing for Belgium, Mateo Kovacic for Croatia and Andreas Christensen for Denmark, with Ethan Ampadu turning out for Wales.
Billy Gilmour is on Scotland duty, while Timo Werner, Tony Rudiger and goal-scoring hero Kai Havertz will be representing Germany, and Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta will be playing for Spain.
But it goes beyond that. Chelsea’s squad is also involved in qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, there’s a new regional competition in North and Central America, and there are friendlies to be played in Africa.
Christian Pulisic will be wearing his USA shirt for the Concacaf Nations League, while Thiago Silva (provided he recovers from injury) could be in the Brazil team against Paraguay next week.
Hakim Ziyech is lining up for Morocco in a friendly, with Eddy Mendy minding the goal for Senegal in a couple of matches too.
England’s first Euros action comes on Sunday 13 June, when Kovacic is likely to be marking Mount as the Lions take on Croatia at Wembley.
Thomas Tuchel will be tuning in to watch the action from his holiday home.
The Chelsea manager, who met club owner Roman Abramovich for the very first time on the pitch at Porto as the Champions League trophy was being presented, says he has no plans to take his foot off the pedal.
“I will not rest; we don’t want to rest. I want the next title,” he barked after it was suggested he might take it easy for a bit.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
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