23 Blues – including loan players at other clubs and three U-21 internationals – will be participating in the upcoming international break, the first of 2021. The players on duty will be taking part in the World Cup qualifying campaign, African Cup of Nations qualifying, European U-21 Championship and friendlies.
The 14 first team players involved are Mateo Kovacic (Croatia); Reece James, Ben Chilwell, Mason Mount (England); Olivier Giroud, N’Golo Kante, Kurt Zouma (France); Andreas Christensen (Denmark); Timo Werner, Kai Havertz, Antonio Rudiger (Germany); Emerson (Italy); Hakim Ziyech (Morocco); Christian Pulisic (USA) & Callum Hudson-Odoi (England U21)
Of all the above mentioned players, Pulisic will be taking part in back to back friendlies and Hudson-Odoi in the U-21 Euro Championships respectively. Conor Gallagher (out on loan at West Brom) & Marc Guehi (out on loan at Swansea City) are the other youngsters who will be taking part in the U-21 Championship.
Three other loanees on duty are Armando Broja of Albania, who is making huge strides at Vitesse Arnhem, Michi Batshuayi of Belgium & Ethan Ampadu of Wales (on loan at Sheffield United).
On-loan at POAK in Greece, Baba Rahman will be playing for Ghana in their African Cup of Nations qualifying
Chelsea U-23 forward Thierno Ballo received his first international call-up with Austria U-21, and he will be part of the country’s squad to play against Spain and Poland.
Jorginho, who picked an injury some time back, will be missing out on Italy’s WC qualifying campaign against Northern Ireland, Bulgaria and Lithuania. Thiago Silva is reportedly easing back into training while his compatriots will be busy preparing for the respective competitions.