Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino is delighted with the preseason form of Ian Maatsen.

The Dutch fullback laid on the assist for Nicolas Jackson's goal in last night's 1-1 draw with Newcastle United in the US.

Pochettino said: "Yes I am so happy with him. He is a player that can play in different positions. His quality, his understanding of the game, he is a clever player. I am so happy with him so far.

"So far he is in my plans. I am so pleased with him, I told you before, I am so pleased because he is a player whose attitude, commitment and understanding of the game, we can use in different positions. That is a good thing for the team and for a coach. It is good to have this type of player."

Pochettino was also asked about the confidence of fellow fullback Marc Cucurella.

He said: "At the moment he is okay, he is good.. All of the players start from zero. It's about competing. We have him and Chilly also, and they need to compete for this position.

"Of course Ian, and Lewis (Hall), we have four players that play the same position. That is the balance we were talking about before. We need to add players as maybe in another position we miss some players and in that position we have four and sometimes the squad is unbalanced. We need to build a balanced squad to have the possibility to compete for a position but not have players who are going to be the third or fourth option to play and it is going to be impossible for one position, for four players to play for one place."