Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has assured his Copa America players that they will see more playing time in the squad's final game of their tour of North America against Barcelona.
More ingredients
Willian, Juan Cuadrado and new signing Radamel Falcao all came on in the 70th minute of the Blues' eventual penalty shootout victory over PSG on Saturday. Despite just two days of training, Mourinho told Chelsea TV he thought the 20-minute cameo was good for the players and "has more ingredients than training in a small group of three."
Not ready for Barca
All three players joined the squad on July 22nd after an extended break due to Copa America and have been working hard since their late arrival but Mourinho has assured that they will not be ready to start on Tuesday, in the squad's penultimate game in the United States.
"Now they are not ready to start against Barcelona, I think they can go from 20 to 30 minutes. I will give them that."
A huge season ahead
It's an important season for the Colombian duo of Juan Cuadrado and Radamel Falcao as both need to impress both the manager and fans if they want to remain at the club. Cuadrado has failed to kickstart his career with the Blues so far and needs to hit the heights of his Fiorentina days, whilst Falcao is aiming to put last season's spell with Man United behind him by scoring goals for fun again.
Although it was a short 20-minute appearance for the Copa America trio, all three showed signs of improvement and impressed their manager, something they'll be hoping to repeat on Tuesday against European champions Barcelona.
The tour has been a mixture of positives and negatives so far for the Blues and an impressive performance against their opponents on Tuesday would end a successful tour of North America ahead of their title defence.