Even with Marc Cucurella yet to join up with the squad, Ben Chilwell has had precious few minutes on this preseason tour. He was a sub against Wrexham and Club America and and didn’t make it off the bench against Celtic or against Man City on Saturday night.
One would have expected the left back to have a clear run at things with Cucurella out, but instead Malo Gusto and other options have been used there. Chilwell certainly doesn’t look like he’s favoured as a left back option at the moment – he’s being treated more like the 4th choice left winger.
No wonder, then, that the rumours about him leaving are growing more intense:
“Chelsea may consider selling Ben Chilwell for the right price amid doubts about his suitability for Maresca’s style of play. His wages and price tag are a stumbling block,” claimed the Athletic’s Transfer Dealsheet today.
It’s been clear that he and Cucurella were available at the right price all summer, but we’ve not heard about even the faintest sniff of interest in Chilwell so far. Transfermarkt value him at €28m, but there are as of yet no suitors – a pretty important factor.
Dodgy way of running a squad
From a purely business point of view we understand the sale of players like Chilwell and Conor Gallagher because they don’t fit into Enzo Maresca’s style of player – a reason that has been cited in both cases. But from a footballing point of view, one has to be realistic. Is it really a smart idea to make major decisions based on the players that a new coach wants when his expected life-span is about 11 months at best? What if we had started changing everything for Graham Potter? Or for Mauricio Pochettino?
Over time, there’s no doubt one wants to shape a squad for a coach, but players should be able to adapt to a new system, and a coach should certainly be able to adapt his system to accommodate some players
