There have been seven new signings this summer, five of which will be at Chelsea for the coming season, with youngsters Louna Ribadeira and Veerle Buurman returning on loan to Paris FC and PSV respectively.

Ahead of our WSL opener against Aston Villa at Kingsmeadow on Friday evening, let’s take a look at the new signings set to don blue for the 2024/25 season and their pre-season performance…

Julia Bartel

Spanish midfielder Bartel opened our summer transfer window as she joined the Blues from Barcelona on a contract until the summer of 2027.

The 20-year-old began her career in Espanyol’s youth teams before moving to the Catalan club in 2019. She then celebrated national league and cup victories and made her debut for Barcelona’s senior team in the Champions League in the 2023/24 campaign.

Bartel joined the Blues this summer and was required to work in Cobham during the first week of pre-season before joining the Spanish U-20 squad ahead of the World Cup in Colombia.

After reaching the quarter-finals of the tournament, Bartel now returns to London where she hopes to make her Chelsea debut soon.

Lucy Bronze

The England international signed a two-year contract with the Blues after moving from Spanish giants Barcelona and boasting a glittering CV that includes five Champions League titles.

With an illustrious collection of winners’ medals from three countries, Bronze brings invaluable experience to the team, having played in Spain, France with Lyon and with a number of clubs in England.

At Chelsea, the full-back will reunite with two familiar faces from Lyon: new head coach Sonia Bompastor and assistant Camille Abily, not to mention a number of England teammates. Bompastor led the club’s academy during Bronze’s time in France, while Abily is a former teammate.

This pre-season, Bompastor took bronze in each of our three games – NJ/NY Gotham, Arsenal and Feyenoord – all of which ended in victories.

She was named in the starting eleven in all three competitions and in the impressive 9-0 win over Feyenoord at Kingsmeadow, Bronze was the only outfield player to play for 90 minutes.

Sandy Baltimore

Baltimore arrived from Paris Saint-Germain and enjoyed an impressive start to life in London during pre-season.

The 24-year-old French striker was our second signing this summer, signing a four-year contract after spending eight years at PSG, where she won one league title and three domestic cups.

Baltimore featured in each of their three pre-season victories and scored their first goal for the club with the winner in our 1-0 win over Arsenal in Washington DC.

She continued that goal by making her first start for the Blues on home soil when we hosted Feyenoord. And the striker picked up where she left off in the US as Baltimore opened the scoring in the fourth minute to seal victory over the Dutch.

Oriane Jean Francois

Like Baltimore, Jean-Francois moved from PSG to Chelsea. The 23-year-old midfielder signed a three-year contract with an option for a further year.

Jean-Francois’ career began with her local club in French Guiana before moving to mainland France, where she signed her first professional contract with Paris FC at the age of 18.

A move to PSG was imminent in 2022 and she spent two seasons with the club, winning the Coupe de France. Unfortunately, most of Jean-Francois’ last season in Paris was interrupted by an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

Due to this injury, Jean-Francois has yet to play in front of the Blues fans. Both the player and head coach Bompastor had previously stated that it was important to manage her minutes after returning from such a serious injury.

Although she didn’t play in our games, the midfielder was part of our preparation tour in the USA.

Maelys Mpome

Chelsea added Maelys Mpome to their squad in September, with the 21-year-old French defender joining from Montpellier.

Mpome was most often deployed in central defense and played regularly for her former club over the last three seasons after moving to Montpellier from VGA Saint-Maur in 2020. On the international stage she played from U-16 to French international U-23 level.

Two days after joining the Blues, Mpome made her first appearance for the club, coming on as a substitute for the final 15 minutes of our 9-0 win over Feyenoord.

• 
  

  This season we have introduced a new line of communication for Chelsea fans! For all matchday information from Kingsmeadow, Stamford Bridge and on the go, Join our WhatsApp channel.