Enzo Maresca wants teenagers Marc Guiu, Tyrique George and Josh Acheampong to STAY at Chelsea in January rather than go out on loan

Enzo Maresca wants Chelsea’s hat-trick hero Marc Guiu, along with Tyrique George and Josh Acheampong, to stay in January rather than sending the 18-year-old trio away on loan.

While it is acknowledged they could guarantee more regular minutes if they left, Maresca has told his club it would be better for their progress if they stayed with him.

All three teenagers started in Thursday’s 5-1 Conference League win over Shamrock Rovers at Stamford Bridge, with Guiu, a £5million summer signing from Barcelona, securing himself the match ball with an impressive first-half hat-trick.

Chelsea take on Everton at Goodison Park in the Premier League next and Maresca said: ‘With young players like Marc, like Josh, like Tyrique, for me, the best thing for them is to be with us because they can understand every day the way we want to play.

‘They can grow, we can teach them how we want them to play. It’s better if they stay with us. But then it depends on the desire of the players. If Marc’s desire is to get more minutes and to play more, then we will sit with him and we will decide to together.’

Meanwhile, Reece James returned to Chelsea’s first-team training on Friday, though did not participate in the full session at Cobham. He is being built back up after his latest hamstring issue, and a return to competitive football could follow in January.

Marc Guiu (left) along with Tyrique George (right) and Josh Acheampong could guarantee more regular minutes if they left on loan spells in January

Romeo Lavia is struggling to be fit to face Everton in a game which could take Chelsea to the top of the Premier League. Benoit Badiashile and Wesley Fofana are also sidelined until after the New Year at least with the Blues contending with injury issues in defence.

Maresca faces the challenge of keeping his whole squad happy in the second half of the season now that the Conference League is entering its knockout stages. Several could leave in January to guarantee themselves game time, with Ben Chilwell and Carney Chukwuemeka among the first who the club will endeavour to send away either permanently or on loan.

‘Personally, I’m not worried about the next three months, if the player are happy or not,’ Maresca said. ‘The only thing I can say is that we have many games, and if they do the right things, if they work properly, for sure, they are all going to have chances to play games.

‘Game by game, we will choose the best 11, the ones that we think are the right ones for the game, and then we see.’