Chelsea name squad to travel to Dublin on pre-season tour

Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has named his squad for their pre-season tour of Dublin.

Lampard was appointed as Chelsea manager earlier this week and will now visit Dublin for pre-season matches against Bohemians and St Patrick’s Athletic next week. The squad is headlined by Cesar Azpilicueta, Pedro, Michy Batshuayi, Kurt Zouma and Tiemoue Bakayoko with Chelsea naming 22 players. Chelsea will play Bohemians on Wednesday the 10th of July and St Patrick's Athletic on Saturday 13th of July. The games will be the first chance manager Frank Lampard has to view his players but the former Blues captain insists younger members of his squad will have to earn their place in the side.

‘The reality is we should be competing no matter what,’ he said. ‘My job is to find the balance between being competitive and bringing some of the younger players through. "My eyes will always be open to the young players but they have to show that they’re good enough because this is Chelsea and we can’t lower our levels too much. I’m not going to do young boys a favour by putting them in the team – they have to get there on merit.’

Squad that arrived in Ireland today

Willy Caballero Cesar Azpilicueta Davide Zappacosta Kurt Zouma Ethan Ampadu Danny Drinkwater Tiemoue Bakayoko Kenedy Pedro Michy Batshuayi Lewis Baker Kasey Palmer Trevoh Chalobah Dujon Sterling Lucas Piazon Fikayo Tomori Jamie Cumming Marc Guehi Conor Gallagher Ike Ugbo Billy Gilmour Ian Maatsen