Liam Delap and Nicolas Jackson are part of a group of Chelsea players who are training separately from Xabi Alonso’s first-team squad as preparations ramp up for the start of the season, Telegraph reports.

But Chelsea have ripped up the club’s old “bomb squad” approach by allowing the second group – which is as large as 12 players some days – to train at the same time as Alonso’s main group and on the same pitches.

It is understood that Jackson, Delap and Co are also continuing to use the first-team facilities instead of being sent to Chelsea’s academy building to change, train and eat, which has been the case in previous years.

Chelsea have more than 40 first-team players listed on the club’s website, which has forced Alonso and the club to split the group in the countdown to the season and the closure of the transfer window.

Jackson and Delap, together with the likes of defenders Tosin Adarabioyo and Axel Disasi, are among a number of players in the second group who could leave Chelsea before the transfer window shuts.

Delap had been keen to stay at Chelsea to try to prove himself, but it seems increasingly likely he will leave, while Jackson has interest from Europe and other Premier League clubs.

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It is believed Chelsea ideally want to carry three strikers in the club’s first-team squad this season and Emmanuel Emegha, who joined from Strasbourg in the summer, has been training with Alonso’s main group.

Danny Welbeck will be one of Chelsea’s attacking trio, along with first-choice striker João Pedro. Welbeck and fellow new signing Jordan Henderson have spent some time in the second training group as they get up to speed and work towards full fitness.

Unlike in previous years when the second group has been very much a “bomb squad” of players Chelsea want to sell, the club have also been using it to allow players such as Welbeck and Henderson to work on their fitness. It is also being used by players who could go on loan, such as Mykhailo Mudryk, and some young players.

Some players, such as Henderson, have been training with both the main and second groups, although others have stuck far more strictly to the second group with their futures in doubt.

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