Enzo Maresca hands lifeline to EXILED Chelsea star

Cameron Smith

• 13 Sept 2024 17:00 BST
• 3 min read

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has hinted that Ben Chilwell will be welcomed back into the first-team fold after failing to seal an exit this summer.

Chilwell, 27, was placed in Chelsea’s ‘Bomb Squad’ following Maresca’s arrival from Leicester City and he was forced to train with the rest of the club’s outcasts.

However, while the likes of Romelu Lukaku, Trevoh Chalobah, Armando Broja and even David Datro Fofana were able to find new homes, Chilwell stayed put and he remains a Chelsea player.

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A move to Manchester United was touted as an option, but Erik ten Hag’s side decided against pursuing a deal, and a last-resort loan move to Turkey also failed to materialise.

As a result, it appeared as though Chilwell would be stuck in limbo until the January transfer window opened.

However, Maresca has hinted that the England left-back could be reintroduced into the first-team squad at Stamford Bridge.

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What has Enzo Maresca said?

Speaking during his pre-match conference ahead of Chelsea’s trip to face Bournemouth on Saturday evening, Maresca told the media: “Ben now is the only one [of the exiled group] still here so probably now we’ll sit with him and find a solution.

“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.”

Marc Cucurella is currently Maresca’s first-choice left-back at Chelsea, while summer signing Renato Veiga is expected to feature prominently in the Europa Conference League.

As a result, the ex-Leicester defender may find it hard to work his way back into the starting XI, despite Maresca’s recent comments.