Enzo Maresca has turned to a host of Chelsea's academy finest as his team prepare to take on Kazakhstan outfit Astana in the Conference League. Left with a gruelling eight-hour trip before returning back to England ahead of Premier League action on Sunday against Brentford, the boss has taken few risks with his team.

Explaining that the squad would be remaining on English time despite a significant difference, Maresca is planning an in-and-out trip to Almaty, which is around 1,000 miles away from Astana with the game being played at a different stadium, due to renovations. The match circumstances have left Chelsea looking to their development group to bulk out the travelling party.

Eleven of the 20 included by Maresca on the plane are from Cobham with talented midfielder Kiano Dyer among them. He has been on the substitutes bench for the Blues before - getting the nod last season against Tottenham when Mauricio Pochettino had 14 players out through injury, as well as in the three games prior to that.

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Dyer is yet to make his senior debut, but did go to Germany for Chelsea's last Conference League match against Heidenheim, too, while he was also on the bench in the first group phase clash with Gent. Here is everything you need to know about the 18-year-old.

Kiano Dyer in profile

Born on November 21, 2006, the central midfielder began his career at West Bromwich Albion before making the switch to Chelsea back in 2021 as a 15-year-old. Now 18, he made 12 appearances for the club's Under-21s side in their Premier League 2 campaign last season, on top of four appearances in the FA Youth Cup, helping the Under-18s reach the quarter-finals of the competition before bowing out to Millwall Under-18s on penalties.

His impressive displays in the academy saw Pochettino has included him in the matchday squads for the 6-0 win over Everton, as well as the 5-0 defeat to rivals Arsenal and the 2-2 draw with Aston Villa over the weekend after signing his first professional contract with Chelsea in November 2023.

The youngster has also received England call-ups at various age-group levels, having made three appearances for England's U-16s, 13 appearances for the U-17s - where he was part of the squad who finished fifth at the 2023 UEFA European Under-17 Championship - and made his U-18s debut in March of this year in a 2-1 win over Czech Republic U-18s. Since then, he's notched caps against Germany U-18s and the Netherlands U-18s, playing 90 minutes in both.

Earlier this year, he went up once again to the Under-19s for his country and has been one of the go-to names for training extras when taking from the academy. Dyer's technical ability, wide passing range, dribbling expertise and his versatile positional capabilities makes him ideal for a deeper role under Maresca with the teenager able to help fill in the gaps left by those ahead of him in the pecking order.