Blues defender Marcus Alonso has insisted that the team are solely focused on getting back to their best next season, after a poor campaign during 17/18.

Chelsea began pre season training over the weekend, despite their managerial situation still remaining unclear with Antonio Conte in charge but facing the sack anytime soon.

The Italian is supposed to be making way for Maurizio Sarri, but a compensation package is yet to be agreed.

However, despite the speculation surrounding Chelsea’s manager, Alonso say a good pre season can influence the whole campaign, and wants the whole team to reach the top level in the league once again.

“Now we want to get back to the top level in the league after a not very good year, and pre-season is an important stage of that,” he told the official Chelsea website.

Chelsea are due to fly out to Australia on July 23 and Alonso is looking forward to playing on the other side of the world.

“It’s always exciting to play in new places and I hope we get to see what the city has to offer,” he said.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to see our fans from the other side of the world. We feel their support throughout the year but we know they can’t always see us play.

“I have heard the stadium is really cool and maybe it won’t be as hot there as it has been in England! We hope to put on a good show for the fans. We have to take these games seriously.

“We have got two weeks to get ourselves into shape and prepare for it. The season starts now.”