Mikel Obi, Moses Absent from Chelsea Pre-Season Training

Nigeria World Cup stars Mikel John Obi and Victor Moses were not part of Chelsea’s 26-man squad which arrived in Austria on Monday for the start of a two-week European training camp.

Coach Jose Mourinho nonetheless named the club’s three new acquisitions Cesc Fabregas, Diego Costa and Filipe Luis to meet their team-mates for the first time since their summer move.

Cesar Azpilicueta and Gary Cahill, who also played at the 2014 Fifa World Cup returned to the squad after their respective campaigns for Spain and England.

The squad arrived early on Monday afternoon and immediately headed for their hotel base in Carinthia.

They had their first session at Waldarena, Velden, on Monday evening. A double session scheduled for Tuesday (today) has started at the time of this report.

Jose Mourinho Addresses Chelsea Team Before Tuesday's Session.
Jose Mourinho Addresses Chelsea Team Before Tuesday’s Session.

Obi Mikel and Moses were members of coach Stephen Keshi squad in Brazil, but looked to have fallen out in the pecking order at The Bridge.

Chelsea have already disclosed they are willing to sell the former Lyn Oslo midfielder at a cut-price to help make for their lucrative spree in the current transfer dispensation.

Moses spent last season on loan at Liverpool, where he was later forced to the bench by the terrific display of England’s teenage prodigy Raheem Sterling and most especially the return of Louis Suarez.

Pre-season squad in full:

Petr Cech, Matej Delac, Mitchell Beeney, Mark Schwarzer, Branislav Ivanovic, Oriol Romeu, Kurt Zouma, Andreas Christensen, John Terry, Gary Cahill, Nathan Ake, Cesar, Azpilicueta, Marco van Ginkel, Nemanja Matic, Nathaniel Chalobah, Mohamed Salah, Jeremie Boga, Lewis Baker, John Swift, Cesc Fabregas, Patrick, Bamford, Fernando Torres, Diego Costa, Dominic Solanke, Filipe Luis, Isaiah Brown