It's been a busy first day for the Blues in Hong Kong, with several players getting out across the city, training restarting under Xabi Alonso, and the squad bolstered by six new arrivals.
It was late on Sunday evening that the Blues touched down in Asia for the second stop on our summer tour, which will include a match against Serie A giants Juventus on Wednesday. Tickets for the game are still available – and it will also be shown live on CFC+.
First up for the players on Monday morning were commercial activities, with the group of Cole Palmer, Jamie Gittens, Estevao Willian and Moises Caicedo making their way to the Nike Store in Pacific Place Mall for an event with young local footballers.
The quartet undertook a Q&A with the players before posing for photographs and signing shirts. It was then back to the team hotel, where Palmer made a brief cameo appearance in good friend Tosin Adarabioyo's livestream on our Douyin channel.
A few miles away, several Blues were undertaking a tour at Ocean Park. The group of Levi Colwill, Ted Curd, Liam Delap, Omari Kellyman, Dastan Satpayev and Teddy Sharman-Lowe suited up to get up close to penguins before taking a cable car to view the family of giant pandas.
Elsewhere, Aaron Anselmino, Wesley Fofana, Nicolas Jackson and Mamadou Sarr supported our soccer schools team in delivering a session, and our Academy players, Calvin Diakite, Landon Emenalo, Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli, Ryan Kavuma-McQueen, Tayo Subuloye, Reggie Walsh and Reggie Watson enjoyed a tram ride through the city streets. And
At the team hotel, manager Xabi Alonso was joined by Josh Acheampong, Dario Essugo, Jorrel Hato, Marco Palestra and Joao Pedro for a special Club Chelsea meet and greet. Special guests invited by our official pre-season tour partner, TMGM, also enjoyed the opportunity to meet the Blues boss and players.
Before the squad departed for training, there was the welcome sight of six players joining up the Blues for the second week of our tour.
Mike Penders, who was part of Belgium's squad at the World Cup, and fellow goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina have arrived in Hong Kong, as have Portuguese duo Geovany Quenda and Pedro Neto, who was also in action for his country at the World Cup this summer.
Mykhailo Mudryk has returned to the fold and will begin training with the Blues, and new signing Danny Welbeck has also linked up with the squad.
An evening session then took place at our training base here in Hong Kong, with the hot and humid conditions a stark contrast to those experienced during our time in Sydney.
Mudryk and Welbeck were among those immediately involved with the group, as Alonso continues to work his squad hard in preparation for the campaign ahead.
The squad then returned to our hotel for a late dinner and a night's rest. The game against Juventus comes into firmer focus tomorrow, with pre-match media duties being undertaken by Alonso and a member of his squad. You can watch both press conferences live on Chelsea's Official App and website.