Palestra finally eyeing Premier League debut with Chelsea: 'Ready to go'

Marco Palestra has completed his transfer to Chelsea from Atalanta (chelseafc. com) The 21-year-old, who broke into the Italy national team squad towards the end of the 2025-26 season, had featured regularly for Chelsea during pre-season, but suffered 'a set-back' in training as Alonso put it, just before the 2026-27 Premier League season got underway.

He has since been forced to watch on from the stands for Chelsea's first five Premier League matches of the 2026-27 season, which have resulted in two wins, one draw and two defeats. He also missed out on selection for the Italy national team squad in September and will now face stiff competition upon his return after an impressive first camp for Brentford's Michael Kayode.

Encouragingly for the former Atalanta and Cagliari wing-back, Alonso has confirmed that he is in contention to feature when Chelsea take on Bournemouth on Saturday. He replied: "Yes, they've all been able to train, some of them more than others.

They have trained well and are ready to go."