Maresca makes BRUTAL admission over Chelsea star’s future

Enzo Maresca has hinted there is no way back for three of his forgotten stars as Chelsea continue to try and shift on their dead wood to fund further signings.

The Blues attracted attention in the summer for their use of a ‘bomb squad’ which saw a number of players exiled from the first team in order to try and force their exits from Stamford Bridge.

While Chelsea were able to shift on the likes of Raheem Sterling and Trevoh Chalobah, albeit on loan, Cesare Casadei, Carney Chukwuemeka and Ben Chilwell all failed to find transfers away and were hoping for a rare run out in this weekend’s FA Cup clash with Morecambe.

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However, Maresca admitted the players were still unlikely to be part of his squad, and should continue to seek moves away, saying: “Carney won’t be included. More or less the decision is like Chilwell and Casadei. Cesare, probably Chilwell and Carney, they are the same situation.

“It’s something that I said at the beginning that Carney is a good player. But we have so many midfield players that he will struggle to get minutes with us.

“Probably for him the best solution is to go and get minutes. So he won’t be involved in our game.”

Maresca reveals plan for fringe stars

Chukwuemeka, Casadei and Chilwell were reintegrated back into Maresca’s squad after the summer transfer window but none have played a single minute of Premier League football this season.

While the trio have featured sparingly in cup competitions, Maresca appears set against putting them in the shop window against Morecambe, with the Chelsea boss insisting that, in Chilwell’s case, a potential injury was not worth the risk.

“Chilwell in this moment is also thinking he is probably going to leave, so it is better to avoid using him to avoid that situation of injury,” Maresca said. “So the plan is not to use Ben against Morecambe.”

Chelsea will need to shift on their fringe players if they are to add to their squad this month, having registered an interest in re-signing Marc Guehi due to injuries in defence.

While Chelsea are keen to move on their fringe players in order to add to their squad this month, Maresca insisted he wants to keep hold of the likes of Renato Veiga and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who have attracted attention in recent weeks.