Chelsea: Enzo Maresca’s lunar outing that assassinates Sterling and half his team!

The summer is hot for Chelsea and even reaches a scorching temperature. Active in terms of arrivals with 238.2 million euros spent on Pedro Neto (Wolverhampton), João Félix (Chelsea), Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (Leicester), Filip Jørgensen (Villarreal), Omari Kellyman (Aston Villa), Aaron Anselmino (Boca Juniors), Renato Veiga (FC Basel), Caleb Wiley (Atlanta), Marc Guiu (FC Barcelona) and Tosin Adarbioyo (Fulham), the Blues are also active in terms of departures. Thus, they recovered 145 million euros with five sales (Ian Maatsen, Conor Gallagher, Lewis Hall, Diego Moreira and Omari Hutchinson) when three players left for free (Malang Sarr, Thiago Silva and Hakim Ziyech) and seven were loaned. However, the departures are not numerous enough for the tastes of the Chelsea directors, but also of the coach Enzo Maresca.

Raheem Sterling took the rap for his…

Present this Wednesday at a press conference before facing Servette Geneva in the Europa League play-offs this Thursday, the Italian coach wanted to clarify things about the transfer window. The former Leicester player notably mentioned the two main players concerned by a departure, namely Raheem Sterling and Ben Chilwell. The observation is clear, Enzo Maresca asked them to look elsewhere: ” They train separately. As I said, the situation is quite clear and there is no update on the situation. They are Chelsea players. Until they are not anymore. But it is not possible to give them all the minutes. Those who want minutes, it is better that they leave. »

Detailing his remarks, Enzo Maresca was quite direct towards Raheem Sterling by admitting that he did not appreciate his profile. A position that he defended: ” I don’t think I’m being brutal. I try to be honest. I spoke to Raheem before the City game. I told him he was going to struggle to get game time with us and here’s why. With Chilly, he’s a lovely guy but he’s going to struggle. If you define that as brutal, that’s up to you. For me it’s not brutal, it’s just honest. I’m not saying Raheem isn’t a good player but I prefer different types of wingers. »

…The other lofters too

Then, he returned more to the plethora of Chelsea squad where we currently find 6 goalkeepers, 11 defenders, 11 midfielders and 13 attackers, or 41 players, not counting those who play in the training center. And there again, Enzo Maresca did not want to put ointment on his protégés: ” It’s every manager’s job to keep them all happy, but it’s almost impossible. Only 11 players will play. It’s almost impossible to keep them all happy. I always try to be honest with each of them. The noise is more external because I’ve been working with 21 or 22 players since we came back from the States. I’m not working with 42 or 43 players and more than 15 players train separately. »

” It’s not the mess that you might think from the outside. Absolutely not. They can even have a 20-year contract, that’s not my point. I don’t care. I’m just here to make the right decisions for the team. This is the starting eleven we want, the team we want. I don’t work with 42 players. I work with 21 players. Today’s session was with 20 players, yesterday with 21. In the United States, we had 26 or 27 players. “, he continued. Words that can be judged as harsh and that testify to an inflexible position of the latter. Enzo Maresca, who has already experienced this situation as a player, explained to these 15 to 20 players concerned that they will not have more than crumbs if they stay: ” It’s not a comfortable situation. I know exactly that feeling, but it’s good to know that if you stay, you’ll have a hard time getting minutes. You try to find a solution as soon as possible, because you want to join a club and get some minutes. » Here’s how to drive an even bigger wedge between two halves of a squad…