Maresca tells Chelsea signing 'he's not the main player'

Tom Weber

• Updated: 24 Sept 2024 11:28 BST
• 3 min read

Enzo Maresca has told Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall that he must fight for his place as he is no longer 'the main player' he was at Leicester.

The midfielder followed his former Foxes boss to Stamford Bridge in what seemed a strange deal at the time. To be sure, Dewsbury-Hall was coming off a stunning season in the Championship in which he scored a whopping 12 goals and notched 15 assists.

However, at Leicester, the homegrown star had a clearly defined role in Maresca's system, a system tailor-made to allow him to boost his offensive numbers. Moreover, this veritable breakout season came in the second division at age 25.

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So, when he arrived at Chelsea, Dewsbury-Hall neither had a guaranteed starting spot after essentially replacing fan favourite Conor Gallagher nor did he really fit the club's transfer policy of signing young players.

Unsurprisingly, then, the midfielder has struggled to make an impact so far at Stamford Bridge, once again casting doubt on Chelsea's general approach to transfers.

Maresca's clear message to KDH

Speaking to the media ahead of Chelsea's clash with League Two side Barrow in the Carabao Cup, Maresca told Dewsbury-Hall that he needs to come to grips with no longer being 'the main player.'

“I’m very happy with Kiernan,” Maresca said. “We need to understand that Kiernan was the main player at Leicester. He arrived here now and he’s not the main player, now he’s one of the players. For him, and any player in the world, you need to adapt mentally.

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“You go from: ‘Okay, I’m the main player here’ to being one of the players. That period requires a bit of time where you understand that and adapt [to] that.

“Sure, when you play for five, 10, 15 minutes, it’s not easy. It’s not easy for Kiernan or the rest of the players. You need a bit of time to understand that kind of situation where it’s different to the previous one, where you were the main player.

"It’s just a matter to adapt a little bit. But overall, I don’t have any doubts about Kiernan.”