It all started in California as Enzo Maresca, his coaching staff, and a group of 28 players touched down in San Jose in the early hours of Tuesday 23 July.

The travelling party included new signings Tosin Adarabioyo, Marc Guiu, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, and Renato Veiga, supplemented by exciting Academy youngsters Tyrique George and Josh Acheampong.

Moises Caicedo joined the group in San Jose the following morning after helping Ecuador reach the Copa America quarter-finals – and then it was straight to work on the training pitches for Maresca and his staff.

The iconic Stanford University was the setting for training, with the players meeting supporters after the first session had finished.

Maresca and Reece James headed to the Levi’s Stadium, home of NFL side San Francisco 49ers, to speak to the media. It was our new head coach's first press conference since taking charge of the Blues.

‘When you join a club like Chelsea - one of the biggest and best clubs in the world – you have to try to win trophies or at least compete,’ said Maresca.

‘So our target will be to try to compete and achieve something now. When that happens? I don’t know, but hopefully it will be as soon as possible.’

Our first friendly of the summer, against Wrexham at the Levi’s Stadium, ended in an entertaining 2-2 draw and featured a bright Blues debut by Marc Guiu, and a first goal in blue for Lesley Ugochukwu.

'I would say I am practising it as much as I can,' Ugochukwu reflected after the game. 'It’s not every time that people see me in that situation but when I got there I tried to keep calm.

The next stop was Indiana, a five-hour flight from San Jose. Our second friendly, against Celtic, might have ended in a disappointing 4-1 defeat, but that didn’t stop Chelsea supporters from far and wide having a great time in Notre Dame.

There was an opportunity for many to hear from Blues legend Carlo Cudicini before the game before fans marched to the stadium on a sumptuous sunny Saturday.

The second week of tour began with a bang: the release of our new 2024/25 away kit.

The striking video to accompany the release was shot on location in a San Jose diner and featured several players in addition to a couple of local co-stars: Mary-Lou and Irv!

While the Blues continued to work hard on the training pitch to build up match fitness and understanding, our International Football Development coaches were making their mark in the local community.

They delivered a wide range of sessions for hundreds of children, including training for pan-disability athletes to encourage their participation and integration in US soccer.

The party moved on to Atlanta and at an open training session on the eve of our fixture against Club America, there was a new face in town: Filip Jorgensen.

The goalkeeper signed from Villarreal and quickly got to work with his new teammates.

Later that evening, in the city centre, a huge gathering assembled to take part in a run organised in conjunction with Nike and the Atlanta Run Club.

It proved a huge hit with regulars and newcomers alike.

Our third fixture of tour was against Club America at the impressive Mercedes-Benz Stadium. It brought our first victory as we dismantled the Mexican champions 3-0.

Christopher Nkunku and Noni Madueke each scored from the spot, and in further positive news there were first minutes in blue for Dewsbury-Hall, and a deserved first goal for Guiu.

Jorgensen came off the bench for his first appearance just 24 hours after signing, and Enzo Fernandez was back involved having won the Copa America.

‘I am very happy,' reflected Maresca. 'I said the other day when we lost to Celtic that the result is always important because we are Chelsea, but the main focus for us at the moment has to be to analyse or to judge the performance and see how we have improved.

‘From my personal perspective, from Wrexham, to Celtic, to today, we continue to improve. This is the most important thing.'

The day after that resounding victory, the Chelsea players headed out to meet fans and members of the Atlanta community.

Robert Sanchez, Tosin and Romeo Lavia visited the Atlanta Falcons training ground and tried their hand at American Football.

There was another tour for four of our players at the studios of one of our broadcast partners, TNT. Raheem Sterling, Armando Broja, and Acheampong and George were shown what goes into producing a live broadcast, before Sterling took part in an interview on CNN.

The main event came at StationSoccer Lindbergh in central Atlanta. Six Blues, along with legend and ambassador Gary Cahill, joined our coaches to take part in drills with local children, pose for selfies and sign autographs.

There were hundreds of Blues fans in attendance, and they enjoyed a live DJ and watched a 5v5 Rush competition, with a victorious Chelsea side captained by Cahill.

It was a brilliant experience for young children who might not normally benefit from such expertise and was one of several StationSoccer coaching clinics Chelsea coaches laid on during our time in Atlanta.

The next leg of the tour was in Columbus, Ohio, where around 10,000 fans attended an open training session on Friday evening.

Another huge crowd watched our 4-2 defeat to Manchester City the following day. Cahill took part in a meet-and-greet at the fan zone beforehand and he led the march to the impressive Ohio Stadium, where the Chelsea players donned our new away kit for the first time.

• You can get your hands on our new away kit here!

It was straight back to our Atlanta base after full-time in Columbus, with another open training session held at the Pace Academy the following day.

Attention then turned to our final Stateside friendly, against Real Madrid in Charlotte. The team flew to North Carolina on Monday, with Maresca and Caicedo conducting the last pre-match press conferences of the tour.

The Ecuadorian is looking forward to progressing on and off the pitch under our new head coach's guidance.

‘He plays like the same system that I played in Brighton,' said Caicedo.

'He wants the same. He wants me to show my quality, to have good personality, to show to my teammates that I am the boss on the pitch. For sure, I will be a good player with him.’

A crowd of 60,000 watched on as a close encounter just went the way of the European champions. Noni Madueke’s header before the break halved the deficit at 2-0 down, but there was to be no second-half equaliser.

Despite the result, it had been a hugely productive tour for the players as they spent quality time together away from the pitch, and learned much more about Maresca’s methodology on it.

And as always, our community work brought plenty of smiles to the faces of young local children, while supporters at our games were thrilled with the fan events laid on.

So, goodbye, America. Until next time!