RAHEEM STERLING will make his Chelsea debut in the early hours of Thursday morning in a pre-season friendly versus Charlotte FC.
The 27-year-old completed his move from Manchester City in a five-year-deal worth up to £50million last week after flying into LA after completing his medical in London.
He has been training with his new teammates since, watching from the sidelines as the Blues beat Club America 2-1 in Las Vegas.
And now, Sterling will don a Chelsea kit for the first time when he faces the MLS side Charlotte in a match that begins just after midnight, UK time, on Wednesday.
On playing Sterling, manager Thomas Tuchel said: “Raheem is absolutely ready to go. He will be on the pitch.
“I am happy about that and he is excited to play his first match.”
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Fellow new signing Kalidou Koulibaly is unlikely to feature having arrived in Las Vegas on Friday night following his £35m switch from Napoli.
However, Tuchel admits to being torn over whether to give him some minutes yet.
The German coach added: “I have to speak to him to be honest about what we do.
"He has done some training sessions with us but he is still in a very individual programme.
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“He trains with the team but of course as you can imagine there are players who are in their third week of preparation and at a completely different level of foundation physically.
“That is not a good match for him to straight start. I don’t want to rule it out completely but it is very likely that he will not play, we will not see him on the pitch.”
Perhaps the Senegalese defender will feature in the remaining games of Chelsea pre-season tour against Arsenal and Udinese.
The club will be keen for him to get some action under his belt before their Premier League season opener away at Everton.
A SunSport exclusive revealed Koulibaly could have competition for places with Chelsea agreeing a deal for Sevilla's Jules Kounde.
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