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Enzo Maresca says he expects Ben Chilwell and Carney Chukwuemeka to be among the first players to ask to leave Chelsea this winter.
Chilwell’s 45-minute showing in the Blues’ Carabao Cup victory over Barrow back in September remains the left-back’s only first-team appearance under Maresca this term.
The 27-year-old England international was forced to train alone at the start of the season and had been keen to leave Chelsea – but a proposed move away from Stamford Bridge never came to fruition before the deadline.
The likes of Manchester United, Napoli, Fenerbahce and West Ham have all been credited with an interest in recent months and a January transfer appears a real possibility.
Chukwuemeka, 21, has seen more game-time than Chilwell but the young winger is still yet to feature in the Premier League and Maresca would not be surprised if both players are unhappy with their peripheral roles.
‘There are players that unfortunately didn’t play a lot with us in all the competitions like Chilwell, like Carney,’ the Chelsea head coach told reporters this afternoon.
‘Probably they are the first [to say] that they want to leave because they train every day, because they want to play games.
‘If they don’t play games probably they are thinking of leaving.
‘Each player is a bit different situation, so we’re going to see if some of them are coming and knocking on the door to say, “I want to leave”, or something like that.
‘It depends and we will try to find a solution.’
Maresca believes Marc Guiu, Josh Acheampong and Tyrique George would all benefit from staying put at Chelsea for the second half of the season, despite the young trio’s lack of regular playing time.
‘I think with young players like Marc [Guiu], like Josh [Acheampong], like Ty [Tyrique George], for me the best thing for them is to be with us,’ Maresca added.
‘They can understand every day the way we want to play, they can grow, we can teach them how we want them to play, so I think it’s better if they stay with us.
‘Then it depends a little bit also on the desire of the players.
‘If, in this case, Marc’s desire is to get more minutes and to play more, we sit with him and we decide together.’
Second-placed Chelsea will look to make it nine straight wins in all competitions with victory away to Everton in the Premier League this weekend.
Joao Felix is back fit and available for the clash but Maresca is set to be without Romeo Lavia at Goodison Park.
Maresca explained: ‘Joao is back, you saw Joao. Romeo probably will struggle to play Sunday. We will see. It depends.
‘And then the rest are all clear.’
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