Enzo Maresca has revealed why Facundo Buonanotte hasn’t featured for Chelsea recently despite being fit and available.
Buonanotte was a surprise loan signing from Brighton in the summer, with the Argentine one of five attacking signings.
The 20-year-old has made six appearances in all competitions, but has only featured once in the Premier League against Brentford back in September.
Enzo Maresca on lack of minutes for Facundo Buonanotte
Buonanotte scored his first goal against Lincoln in the Carabao Cup, but despite a long absence for Cole Palmer he’s not featured much.
The attacker hasn’t even made the match day squad for the last six league games, and the signing in all honesty hasn’t made an awful lot of sense.
With the busy Christmas period coming up there’s expected to be a lot of rotation, and Maresca was questioned over a lack of minutes for Buonanotte.
“No, it’s because Facu is working well,” he told his pre-match press conference.
“He played some games at the beginning for many reasons, because Cole [Palmer] was injured, because Liam [Delap] was injured, so we had more space for him.
“But in this moment, we have all the players back. The game against Leeds, Wes was not even in the squad, Ty [George] was not even in the squad, Facu was not even in the squad.
“So there is not any reason why it’s just because we have already players in his position, but they are back.”
Chelsea have buy option on attacker
The move to bring Buonanotte in is believed to be a straight loan, although some reports have suggested Chelsea having matching rights on any offer received.
Given that Geovany Quenda and Emmanuel Emegha are arriving next summer, and Buonanotte has hardly featured, it seems very unlikely the Blues will sign him on a permanent basis.
How much he features over the rest of the campaign remains to be seen, but on current evidence it’s hard to imagine him getting a lot of minutes.
