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Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has insisted the club is not “a mess” despite having more than 40 first-team players on their books, as he also challenged Raheem Sterling‘s claim he is in the dark over his future.
Maresca added that the club’s summer transfer business may not be over after João Félix‘s arrival in west London was confirmed earlier on Wednesday despite half of the squad training away from the first team.
“The first 11 we want, it’s the squad we want. The first 11 we had against Manchester City is not always going to be the same 11 all season,” he said in a news conference ahead of Chelsea’s Europa Conference League playoff first leg against Servette.”
“The squad is the squad that I want in this moment. I am not working with 42 players. I’m working in this moment with 21 players. The other 15 or 20, they are training apart. It’s not a mess, from how it looks outside.”
Sterling had released a statement seeking clarity over his Chelsea future after being left out of the matchday squad for the team’s Premier League opener against Manchester City on Sunday, but Maresca claimed there is nothing to tell him, adding that he and Ben Chilwell are better off leaving the club in order to find playing time.
“I don’t think so I just had to try to be honest,” Maresca said when asked if his approach was brutal. “I just said and I will say it again, I spoke with Raheem [Sterling] before Manchester City, I said that he is going to struggle to get minutes with us. With Chilly [Chilwell], I said he is a lovely guy but with his position, he’s going to struggle with us. It’s not brutal, it’s honest.
“I spoke with Raheem one-to-one, the day before City, and I explained to him exactly the situation.
“I don’t have anything new to tell him, because I was quite clear.”