Enzo Maresca sends forgotten £20m Chelsea star clear transfer message as agreement revealed
Enzo Maresca has issued an update on forgotten midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka, who has been unable to force himself into the Chelsea manager's plans. The 20-year-old midfielder was linked with an exit from Stamford Bridge during the summer transfer window - but a move failed to materialise.
Chukwuemeka has featured just once for Maresca so far this season, coming off the bench with quarter of an hour to go in the Blues' 5-0 win over Barrow on Tuesday night. Despite a positive performance as Chelsea ventured into the Carabao Cup fourth round, the England Under-20 international was omitted from the squad to face Brighton at the weekend.
In fact, he's still yet to make the subs bench in the Premier League this term. Speaking to reporters after the west Londoners' 4-2 win over the Seagulls, Maresca was quizzed on Chukwuemeka's omission and asked why he's been unable to make his mark on the group.
He revealed it was all agreed that the youngster was supposed to leave the club on loan. The Chelsea head coach said: "I will say exactly the same thing I have said many times, Carney is a very good player.
"But for the amount of players we have, we decided at the beginning of the season it's probably better [for him] to leave and go somewhere, prove himself by playing 30 or 35 games than being here and play less games.
"Unfortunately, that didn't happen. He's our player. He had some minutes the other day, but today [on Saturday] he wasn't involved. Hopefully we can give him more minutes."
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Ben Chilwell, who has also struggled to force his name into Maresca's plans after failing to find a new club in the summer, was given his first minutes of the season on Tuesday night, too. Like Chukwuemeka, the 27-year-old was then omitted from their matchday squad to face Brighton.
Speaking to reporters earlier this week, Maresca was asked if he plans to give Chilwell minutes in the English top-flight. The Italian replied: "Yeah, in the moment that we need, why not?
"I said already many times and I will say again; in the moment Chilly is with us, he's one of the Chelsea players and one of our players. If we need, we can give him time and minutes."