5 Chelsea players who impressed the most during pre-season

#4 Davide Zappacosta

Zappacosta is already benefiting from playing in his natural role

Davide Zappacosta, who joined Chelsea from Torino last year, was termed as a mediocre panic buy by the end of last season due to his inconsistency that came to light whenever he was called in to provide cover for Victor Moses as a right wing-back in the 3-4-3 system.

The Italian was forced to improvise in an unnatural role throughout last season but Chelsea reverting to a back four under Maurizio Sarri has proved pivotal in his uprising during pre-season. Zappacosta has looked the part all throughout Chelsea's friendlies and even showcased a better overall performance than Chelsea's rumoured first-choice full-back in the form of Cesar Azpilicueta, who struggled to re-adapt himself to his natural position.

Sarri has a reputation of working wonders with relatively unknown full-backs, just like he did with Elseid Hysaj and Faouzi Ghoulam at Napoli, and if Zappacosta continues to impress then he could well and truly establish himself as a regular at Stamford Bridge.