Revealed: Maresca’s ‘favourite’ wonderkid at Chelsea

One Chelsea youngster has been dubbed Enzo Maresca’s ‘favourite’ at Stamford Bridge and has been catching the eye while training with the first team.

Chelsea have the youngest squad in the Premier League with an average age of 23, having prioritised bringing in talented prospects to develop and flourish under Maresca.

However, the Blues have also looked to promote academy talent, albeit often with the vision of selling them on for pure profit for PSR reasons and continue their lavish spending.

Maresca has used the likes of Tyrique George and Josh Acheampong from the academy this season and Standard Sport have revealed that 17-year-old Shim Mheuka could be next in line for a promotion to Chelsea’s senior squad.

Mheuka is said to be ‘one of if not the most regular’ academy player to join in Maresca’s first team training, having already made his senior debut for the club in the Europa Conference League in December as well as the Premier League in February.

Although the forward’s teammate Reggie Walsh is described as Maresca’s ‘favourite’ youngster, with the 16-year-old already featuring for Chelsea in their Carabao Cup win over Lincoln when he came off the bench alongside Mheuka.

Mheuka set to be handed more Chelsea minutes by Maresca

Mheuka joined Chelsea from Brighton’s academy in 2022 as a 14-year-old and he has been capped extensively in England’s youth ranks since, from the under-15s to the under-19s, for whom he scored five goals in three games for last month.

Chelsea are believed to have paid Brighton £1 million (€1.15m) via a tribunal for Mheuka, with the final cost likely to be around £4.25m (€4.9m) if he meets various unspecified add-ons.

After netting a hat-trick against Benfica in the UEFA Youth League last week and winning August’s Premier League 2 player of the month, Mheuka is set to be handed more game time by Maresca, particularly with Chelsea missing a number of players through injury.

Walsh, meanwhile, is a year younger than Mheuka and is still to be eased in to the first team after making his debut for the England under-18s last month, having played three times for Chelsea’s senior side.

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