Chelsea Round-Up, Thursday 12th November: Caicedo Injury Fears Grow, Gusto Exit Greenlit, Barcelona Eye Colwill
Chelsea's international break has been dominated by fitness concerns over Moises Caicedo, who has admitted to "having a few problems" while away on Ecuador duty (The Sun). The midfielder suggested he is prepared to play through the pain barrier in Ecuador's upcoming friendlies, a stance Sports Mole suggests will worry Xabi Alonso (Sports Mole), and he later made what Football.London called an honest injury admission about his fitness levels after a difficult start to the season for Chelsea (Football.London).
Elsewhere on the injury front, Joao Pedro - who has missed Chelsea's last four matches in all competitions with a thigh problem - posted a cryptic three-word update on his recovery that has left Alonso keeping a close watch on his progress (Football.London). The Evening Standard's wider injury round-up also touched on a player who has featured only twice this season, both in the Carabao Cup, after picking up an ankle issue on England Under-21s duty (Evening Standard).
On the transfer front, Sports Mole report that Chelsea are lining up fresh contract talks for Levi Colwill, with Barcelona said to be monitoring the £75m-rated defender's situation ahead of the January window (Sports Mole). There's also significant noise around Malo Gusto, with TeamTalk claiming Alonso has given the green light for the right-back to leave in January, with Liverpool and Manchester City reportedly battling it out for a deal (TeamTalk), while a separate TeamTalk piece suggests the same green light could hand Manchester United boost in their own pursuit (TeamTalk). We Ain't Got No History add that Gusto is said to be "assessing his options" as the window approaches (We Ain't Got No History). Chelsea have also been credited with interest in Bournemouth's Alex Scott, who GiveMeSport say could be at the centre of a January scramble involving Liverpool and Arsenal too (GiveMeSport), while Fabrizio Romano has claimed Alonso "loves" Arsenal's Martin Zubimendi and would relish working with him (Football365). Meanwhile, Napoli are reportedly eyeing a winter move for forward Jamie Gittens, who cost Chelsea £52million, after a rival bid was turned down in the summer (The Sun). Football.London's Bobby Vincent also tackled a wide range of supporter questions on Estevao's future, the Palmer situation and the Zubimendi links in a Q&A session (Football.London).
There was a reminder of Chelsea's result over the weekend, with the Blues having lost 1-0 away at Sunderland in the Premier League on Sunday [implied by Matches]. Looking at the academy pipeline, The Sun reported that young wingers Ryan Kavuma-McQueen and Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli impressed on England underage duty as part of a dozen Cobham graduates involved (The Sun), while Football.London took a closer look at why Kavuma-McQueen's loan spell at Portsmouth has been such a good fit, having already caught Alonso's eye before his move (Football.London).
On the fringes of the first-team picture, Cole Palmer has been told by Alan Shearer that he has "some making up to do" after being left out of Thomas Tuchel's latest England squad (Football.London). Sports Mole also crunched the numbers on Chelsea's 24 loan players, revealing a quartet have featured for fewer minutes so far this season than Manchester United loanee Alejandro Garnacho (Sports Mole).
Away from the pitch, Chelsea Football Club marked ten years since survivors of childhood sexual abuse in football first began speaking publicly about their experiences (ChelseaFC.com), while four Chelsea players were handed Guinness World Records titles (ChelseaFC.com). Fans can also vote for their Chelsea Women October Player of the Month and for their favourite late Stamford Bridge winner, both via the club's official app (ChelseaFC.com).
This round-up is written with the help of AI, using only the day's headlines from the publishers credited above. Each point links to the original report — tap the source name to read it in full.
