Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount has welcomed the competition from new summer arrivals.
Mount was speaking before Kai Havertz's hat-trick in last night's Carabao Cup win against Barnsley.
Mount has known Ben Chilwell for some time, having played alongside him for England at junior and senior level, and he welcomes the fight for starting places the new arrivals will provide.
"Some of them we know very well like Chilly," Mount told the club's website. "I know him very well so he's come in and been around the boys quickly.
"The German boys coming in are obviously brilliant players and they add something to the group, Hakim as well and Thiago is another brilliant player. It's all about competition at this club, world-class players coming in and they're going to make all of us better.
"I love competing against my team-mates, we all love it, and the gaffer wants high standards in training. There's always going to be that little feeling that they could be coming in to your position but with me, I'm always positive and up for the challenge."
The aim this season is to close the gap on the teams above them in the Premier League and continue fighting for silverware.
"A lot of people wrote us off last season saying we would get nowhere near the top four and we proved them wrong," he stated. "I definitely think we'll be up there challenging, that's where we want to be and we have to set that standard."
