Chelsea And Newcastle To Headline Premier League Summer Series In USA
Six Premier League clubs will reportedly compete in a Summer Series tournament in the USA later this year.
Pre-season trips to the States have become increasingly common for EPL teams in recent years as clubs look to expand their global fanbases and commercial reach.
According to The Athletic, the Summer Series hopes to be more "meaningful" than regular friendly games and other pre-season tournaments, such as the International Champions Cup, which ran between 2013 and 2019.
The new tournament is apparently due to take place exclusively in cities within the Eastern Time Zone in late July.
Chelsea are likely to be the biggest draw of all the clubs involved, although perhaps not the best performing.
Newcastle, Aston Villa, Brighton and Brentford are also expected to compete in the Summer Series. All four of these teams are currently above Chelsea in the EPL table.
Leeds United are also likely to be involved, but only if they first avoid relegation to the Championship.
The Summer Series was inspired in part by the success of the Premier League Asia Trophy, which ran biannually from 2003 to 2019, featuring four teams, including at least three from the EPL.