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Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has made his thoughts on Ben Chilwell brutally clear, saying it would be better for the England international to leave the club as he will be playing much for him this season.
It has been another frantically busy transfer window for the Blues, with more deals still likely to be done in the coming days.
Chilwell has fallen down the pecking order in his roles at left-back or left wing-back, not helped by the various injury problems he has suffered over his four years at Stamford Bridge.
The 27-year-old signed for Chelsea from Leicester in 2020, but has only made 70 Premier League appearances over those four seasons, with just 13 in the last campaign.
Maresca says he does like the full-back, but has been painfully honest in where he stands in his bloated squad.
‘Chilly is with us but he has not been training for the last few days because he has been ill,’ said the Blues boss.
‘The reason he did not play [in a pre-season friendly] versus Inter was because, with Chilly it is quite clear, even though I love the way he is, the problem is, he is struggling a bit to find the right position.
‘This morning we had 22 players training and if you ask all of them they will say they want to play against City on Sunday. But that is impossible. When you train every day and do not get any minutes it is not good for them or for me.
‘I need to make a decision and probably it is better to leave and go and get minutes. The transfer window is open so we’ll see what happens.’
Chelsea’s first team squad includes 43 players, which Maresca openly admits is far too big and must be trimmed before the transfer window closes.
‘We spent 20 days in America with 28 or 29 players, so it was quite good to manage the squad,’ he said. ‘Now we have guys who are not part of the squad and are training apart.
‘At the moment, it is not difficult, but if I start to think I have 43 players, it’s not good.’
Chelsea get their Premier League campaign underway on Sunday against Manchester City.
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