Chelsea were able to offload 21 players for £290 million during the summer transfer period, but despite Enzo Maresca’s simple stance, three players remained stuck at the club
Enzo Maresca gave another dull message to the unnecessary Chelsea trio after the summer transfer window was closed. Bruce oversaw big sales for players over the summer, but they couldn’t shift everything and the three got stuck.
Chelsea offloaded a whopping 21 players into the window, with Noni Madueke, Nicholas Jackson, Christopher Nukank and Joan Felix. They generated around £290 million by selling players, and £255 million has been reinvested in Maresca’s team.
Sports managers Paul Winstanley and Lawrence Stewart were busy off-roading fringe players, but they didn’t achieve a clean sweep. Raheem Sterling, Axel Disasi and David Datro Fofana remain in Chelsea, but Maresca has no space in the team, so they are left in Limbo.
Therefore, they formed the so-called “bomb squad” and were forced to train at a different time from the first team at the Cobham training ground in Chelsea. The Blues were on the verge of injury ahead of their match-day matchup with Brentford in the Premier League, but even if some players go missing, Sterling, DiSazi and Fofana are not likely to be included in the match-day team.
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“They’re contracted with the club, so they’re Chelsea players,” Maresca said at a pre-match press conference. “At this moment they are still training apart, the idea is to continue in the exact same way.
“We haven’t seen one of them since the start of the season. I didn’t see Renato (Veiga who left for Villarreal), I didn’t see Axel, I didn’t see Raheem.
Asked if there was a way to return to the first team for them, Maresca responded frankly: “With us? No?”
The 30-year-old Sterling is the most obvious issue for Chelsea, with the forward being paid £300,000 a week on a deal that still leaves him with a two-year contract. He spent last season on loan with Arsenal, but was unable to attract new clubs in the summer, mainly due to his enormous wages.
The 27-year-old Disasi spent the second half of last season on loan with Aston Villa, and was interested in its summers from Sunderland, Bournemouth and West Ham. However, the French defender offered it for his return to former club Monaco, which has never been embodied.
Fofana, 22, spent last season on loan with Turkish Gostepe. Like the other two, he was named for Chelsea’s team in the Premier League season, but he can’t get the game if an injury is bitten.
Maresca is not home to Romeo Lavia, Levi Colwill, Benoit Badiasere, Liam Dellup and Dario Esgo for the Brentford match, but Cole Palmer is suspicious. Meanwhile, their South American stars, Joao Pedro, Estevao Willian, Andrey Santos and Moises Caiceco, have returned from international duties that are too late to train before the game.
Despite this, Maresca is pleased with his options. “I think we have a good team,” he said. “A year ago at a press conference with Chelsea, I said I was in love with the team. This was the reason I decided to join this club because the team was already very good. Since then, we have tried to make some changes.
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