Chelsea star could finally be unleashed as fresh Enzo Maresca problem becomes painfully clear
"He's a great talker," one of the Chelsea media team said; referring to Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. As Chelsea prepared for their opening pre-season game of their summer tour of the United States, football.london was fortunate enough to sit down with one of the new Blues signings in Dewsbury-Hall.
In an extremely luxurious hotel in Palo Alto, California, the 26-year-old opened up on working with Enzo Maresca at Leicester City, his ambitions at Stamford Bridge, and much more. The person working for Chelsea was right; he was a great talker. He engaged you when speaking - and it made you really root for him.
It has not quite happened yet. Emphasis on yet because we are five games into the 2024/25 season. However, at a club like Chelsea - and in football in general with the cutthroat nature of the sport - time is a rare commodity.
Dewsbury-Hall's debut came in the last 24 minutes of Chelsea's 2-0 defeat to Manchester City in the opening weekend of the season. The former Leicester midfielder, who worked with Maresca during the Foxes' Championship-winning 2023/24 campaign, was used as a left-sided No.8 but failed to make the desired impact as the Blues chased an equaliser; only for Mateo Kovacic to double the visitors' lead late on at Stamford Bridge.
He made his first start for Chelsea a few days later in the first-leg of their Conference League qualifier against Servette in SW6. Dewsbury-Hall played once again as one of the No.8s for the Blues and completed the full game.
That, to date, was his best performance for Chelsea; he made intelligent runs in behind, showed glimpses of what he is capable of in possession and just slotted in really well overall. But in his next two appearances, we have not really seen that from Dewsbury-Hall, who cost Chelsea around £30million from the King Power Stadium in July.
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Next time out, away at Wolves - Chelsea's only Premier League victory of the season so far - Dewsbury-Hall made a 14-minute cameo at the end of the game. It was quite an easy situation for the midfielder to be introduced to, with his Blues side already boasting a 5-2 lead. That later got added to, with Dewsbury-Hall playing a part in Joao Felix's goal on 80 minutes; moments after the midfielder was subbed on.
Enzo Fernandez found Dewsbury-Hall on the touchline, who then played it to Cole Palmer, who passed to Pedro Neto, who crossed it to Felix to finish a nice move off. It was a strong contribution from Dewsbury-Hall, who then started in Switzerland as Chelsea were beaten in the second-leg against Servette, although the Blues progressed 3-2 on aggregate over the two games.
It was a rather disappointing performance from Dewsbury-Hall in Geneva, after two positive displays on the bounce. That may well have impacted Maresca's thinking against Crystal Palace with the midfielder not being used from the bench despite Chelsea chasing a winning goal against the Eagles in west London.
Out of a possible 270 minutes in the Premier League, Dewsbury-Hall has been on the pitch for just 38 of those. It has certainly been a slow start for Chelsea's £30m man, but with the coming weeks seeing the return of domestic cup competitions and the Conference League league phase beginning, we could see plenty more from Dewsbury-Hall.
That could start as early as Saturday evening. Fernandez, who is representing Argentina this week, and Moises Caicedo, who likewise is playing in South America with Ecuador, are both set to return to the UK later than the rest of their teammates.
Often in the Premier League, we have seen the South American players that return late rested the following weekend. It seems highly unlikely that Fernandez and Caicedo will miss out on the squad but we could see Maresca do something different regarding his line-up on Saturday night - and Dewsbury-Hall could be the beneficiary.