Chelsea: Maresca throws another star to ‘bomb squad’; team-mate gets revival chance after exit failure

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has reportedly brutally frozen out Cesare Casadei, but Ben Chilwell is “probably going to be back” with the side after his exit failed to materialise.

Maresca has been brutal with a number of his Blues players since taking up his role at the club. He publicly told some players that there was no future for them at Stamford Bridge.

That began with Raheem Sterling, who has since left for Arsenal on loan, and Chilwell was also part of that group.

But the left-back has failed to find the exit door, and Maresca has hinted at the possibility of him reviving his Blues career.

“Ben now is the only one [of the exiled group] still here so probably now we’ll sit with him and find a solution,” Maresca said.

“Probably, he’s going to be back with us in training sessions. At the moment he’s not training with us.

“The reason he is training apart is because the idea was for him to leave. But because we didn’t find any solution, he’s here and probably he’s going to start to train with us. We need to decide that. If we decide that, he will be one of our players.”

According to Football Insider, Maresca’s suggestion that Chilwell is the only frozen out player still at the club is not the case.

Casadei is yet to play this season, and according to the report, he is the latest ‘to be frozen out’ and added to the list of unwanted players deemed ‘the bomb squad’.

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Chilwell failed exit offers route back

Maresca suggests that Chilwell is back in the squad because he failed to secure an exit from Chelsea.

TEAMtalk sources stated that Fenerbahce were showing strong interest in him.

However, it was subsequently reported that he was offered to them, Istanbul Basaksehir and Galatasaray, though none of those sides responded to the Blues’ efforts.

With Chelsea reportedly finalising their squad today, that he was not able to exit seems like it may have been a good thing for him.

But for Casadei, reports suggest things look bleak, after he played just 71 minutes for the Blues last season, having returned from a loan to Leicester, where he was managed by a certain Maresca, scoring three goals and assisting another two.

Chelsea making room for signings

Chelsea always seem to be pushing players out in order to get new ones through the door during the Todd Boehly era.

Another player who seems destined for the exit is David Datro Fofana, who’s also yet to play this season and though a move to AEK Athens fell through, it seems Goztepe SK are ready to take him.

Mykhaylo Mudryk is also in danger of being shown the door if his form does not drastically improve before January.

Chelsea could raise a decent sum from his sale, and could use some of that money on Chris Rigg, the 17-year-old Sunderland star who they have been linked with, along with some Premier League and European rivals.

Chilwell pushed out by Cucurella

Chilwell has gradually fallen down the pecking order at Chelsea since his move from Leicester City in the summer of 2020.

The 21-time capped England international featured just 13 times in the Premier League for the Blues last season – missing big chunks of the campaign due to knee and hamstring injuries.

Maresca prefers Marc Cucurella as his first-choice left back and the Spaniard has started all three of Chelsea’s Premier League fixtures so far this term.

Chilwell, on the other hand, hasn’t even been named in a match-day squad, showing that Maresca has already made up his mind about the 27-year-old.

The stats from last season show that Cucurella is far superior to Chilwell defensively. The ex-Brighton man averages three successful tackles per game compared to Chilwell’s one, and one interception per match to his 0.3.

Cucurella is also more of a threat going forward with 1.4 successful dribbles per match compared with Chilwell’s measly 0.2.

Cucurella also holds onto possession more effectively with a pass success rate of 86.7 per cent to Chilwell’s 80.2 per cent.

All of this, coupled with the fact that Cucurella had a fantastic Euro 2024 campaign with Spain, makes it unsurprising that Maresca views the 26-year-old as a stalwart at left-back.

Chilwell will no doubt find it difficult to fight his way back into Chelsea’s starting XI if Cucurella stays fit and in good form, but he does now have a chance, at least.

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