Moises Caicedo played a part in the first half of Chelsea’s behind-closed-doors friendly with Portsmouth last Saturday, sources have revealed to Confidential, with the midfielder working his way back from the calf injury which has prevented his season from properly starting.
Usually reliable in his availability, Caicedo missed the beginning of this campaign before briefly returning as a second-half substitute against Brighton in late August – only to exacerbate his problem as he had to be removed 14 minutes after coming on in that 4-3 Premier League win.
Caicedo has not been seen since, including in the training pictures released by Chelsea over this international break. Without his protection, Xabi Alonso’s defence carry the worst record in the Premier League with 12 goals conceded in five games.
However, Confidential has learned the 24-year-old Ecuadorian did participate in the secret fixture arranged against Championship club Portsmouth. His minutes have been described by sources as minimal with it believed that he did not play the full 45 of the first half. It was with the intention of building him up with Chelsea treating his calf problem with caution.
Portsmouth beat Chelsea 2-0. Cobham insiders suggested that scoreline should not cause concern as the clash carried an emphasis on youngsters in the absence of first-teamers away on international duty, players rehabbing their way back to full fitness and tactical experimentation.
Alonso may say the same if asked at his pre-Bournemouth press conference on Friday afternoon.
Moises Caicedo played a part in Chelsea’s behind-closed-doors friendly against Portsmouth last weekend
Chelsea kept a close eye on Cole Palmer and his muscular issue over the international break
However, one source speaking anonymously to Confidential conceded some of the senior stars involved were ‘not at it’. That will have given Alonso food for thought, even if this was a non-competitive game played in the privacy of the training ground.
When Caicedo returns competitively, they want him back for good and with little-to-no risk involved. It remains to be confirmed whether Alonso – in conjunction with his medical department, led by director of performance Bryce Cavanagh – will sanction Caicedo’s return to the match-day squad for the visit of Bournemouth to Stamford Bridge this Saturday.
Marco Rose’s visitors are winless in the Premier League after five fixtures, and will be without Alex Scott, the Chelsea target who is facing two months on the sidelines with a quad problem picked up while away with England. Scott’s injury – along with other withdrawals from Thomas Tuchel’s camp – justified Chelsea’s call to oversee Cole Palmer’s muscular issue personally during this three-week international break.
We have not heard whether Palmer played against Portsmouth.
In goalkeeper news, Mike Penders is back at Cobham and training fully despite fears of an injury picked up while away on Belgium duty.
Emiliano Martinez is having to travel back from representing Argentina in their early hours of Wednesday morning in Buenos Aires in what was an emotional farewell to Lionel Messi. Martinez will now need to overcome the jet lag if he is to retain his place as Alonso’s first choice versus Bournemouth on Saturday.
EBOUE ON HIS ESTRANGED SON
Mathis Eboue is a 17-year-old in Chelsea’s academy, a fine prospect in the England youth system and has already made a Premier League match-day squad. His father is Emmanuel, the former Arsenal and Ivory Coast player.
However, Emmanuel, while proud, is sad at how he has become estranged from his son. The 43-year-old is divorced from his former wife and mother of Mathis.
Emmanuel Eboue played 132 times for Arsenal over seven years at the club
His son Mathis (left) is now in the Chelsea academy and plays for England at age-group level but he doesn’t talk to his father, Emmanuel
‘I haven’t seen him for a long time – around five years — and we haven’t really spoken,’ Emmanuel says of Mathis. ‘When I call him, he doesn’t answer and he doesn’t reply to my messages.
‘But I always pray for him. When I watch him playing, I’m so happy and so proud of him. I never imagined one day Mathis would be at this level because when he was younger he was very shy and sometimes scared to play football.
‘Now I watch my son on YouTube. People from England call me and tell me how good he is. They tell me he can play with both feet and that he is very fast.’
Emmanuel is speaking to Confidential via LiveFootballTickets. He adds: ‘I’m very proud of him. But I pray he never scores against Arsenal! He can score against all the other teams – just not Arsenal.’
JT’S SPYGATE RISK
There were eyebrows raised when John Terry revealed in the Netflix docuseries, Mourinho, how Chelsea used to occasionally get hold of training footage of their upcoming opponents.
But thankfully for the club, they appear to have escaped a retrospective Premier League probe into spying in spite of their legend’s loose lips.
Terry said in the programme about Jose Mourinho: ‘I remember we were due to play Bolton and up on the screen is Bolton’s training session from the day before. Big Sam is like, “Hit (William) Gallas, he’s not very good in the air.”
‘He’s spitting and stuff like that on the mic. And it was just like, “Wow, who gets footage from someone’s training ground?” I am actually still not sure where he got the footage from.’
John Terry has revealed that Jose Mourinho showed his Chelsea team video footage of a Bolton training session
It will have been from between 2004 and 2006, when Mourinho was Chelsea manager and Gallas was a Chelsea player.
Leeds in 2019 were issued with a formal warning by the Football Association for their own spying incident under Marcelo Bielsa, and fined £200,000 by the English Football League as they were in the Championship. The EFL found Leeds breached rules over treating teams with ‘good faith’.
As Southampton know, today’s rules towards spying differ to when Mourinho appeared to source footage of Chelsea’s next opponents. The Premier League declined to comment when asked by Confidential, but appear willing to overlook Terry’s revelation on this occasion. The Football Association likewise declined to comment.
COBHAM UPGRADE IN WORKS
Chelsea have begun speaking with Elmbridge Borough Council about upgrading their Cobham training ground with the club looking to revamp their headquarters.
The Blues’ base was built in 2004 when Roman Abramovich was owner. Other clubs have since created elite homes for themselves and there is a belief that Chelsea, now owned by Clearlake Capital, could do with an upgrade which will benefit their men’s, women’s and academy sides.
CHELSEA BOLSTER LEGAL TEAM
Confidential has learned Chelsea have made at least two new additions to their legal team in the last week. Both appointments are on an interim basis. One is a six-month loan on secondment to the club’s department from an elite global law firm, for example. The reasoning is unknown.
Meanwhile, Achille de Rauglaudre has been installed as head of BlueCo finance, looking after Chelsea and Strasbourg.
DIRECTOR’S EXIT AND WHAT IT MEANS
Laurence Stewart leaving Chelsea as Sporting Director is not connected to the recent changes at ownership level, with his departure in the works before Clearlake Capital seized full control.
Laurence Stewart (centre), with Sporting Director Paul Winstanley and co-owner Todd Boehly, is leaving the club
Paul Winstanley, Joe Shields and Sam Jewell are leading the day-to-day operation alongside Alonso and the ownership, with Stewart’s responsibilities absorbed by the existing sporting leadership team.
Chelsea are not currently seeking a like-for-like replacement.
Dave Fallows remains a member of the leadership team also, but his role is in an advisory and consulting capacity rather than operating with a fixed day-to-day portfolio. Keeping a lower profile than the others, Fallows has hardly been spotted in person at Chelsea games.
