Pre-season tours are always intense. You travel, train, play a game and then move on to somewhere different. But my feeling is we have improved a lot over the past two weeks – and also learned important things about the players.

For sure, we know more about the football side. We have played five matches and there have been many positives. The flow of the team and energy has always been good, and we are seeing the principles that we want in the team.

We can get better – and we will get better – but we are happy with the work we have done. Now, when we get back to Cobham, we will keep developing our ideas. We want to be versatile and unpredictable in our approach and the more options we have, the different threats we have, the better team we will be.

This takes time. For sure, we will be ready to compete when the Premier League season begins at Fulham; I can promise you, the supporters, that. Yet our development as a team will not stop there. It is a process that takes months and every game will help.

The tour has also been important from the personal side. We spent every day together and that has helped us get to know the players better and build connections.

We have been able to welcome new players into the group. Misha has also returned, which was an emotional moment for everyone at the club. We are happy he is with us again.

We want to have a great team spirit. It’s my belief that this is what carries you through a season. When you are competing, when you face difficulties, it’s togetherness and trust that can help you find solutions.

The team is the most important; this has been the message. We have seen in the matches the players supporting each other on the pitch and we need to keep this going forward.

I must also thank all the fans who came to support us during the tour. Chelsea is one of the biggest clubs in the world and we have seen what it means to people in many different countries.

We never take this for granted. In Sydney, Hong Kong, Jakarta and Johor, we were given fantastic welcomes, and everyone made us feel at home even though we were a long way from London.

For sure, we will get back to Cobham in the week ahead and continue preparing for the season. We have one more pre-season game and it’s against a club that’s been important in my life: Real Sociedad.

They are a good opponent to face and I’m looking forward to experiencing my first game at Stamford Bridge as manager and meeting our supporters at our home.

We want to fight for important things this season and the Chelsea fans, as always, will be important in helping us achieve that. See you next weekend.

Tickets for our game against Real Sociedad this coming Saturday 15 August are on general sale!