Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has insisted the club is not “a mess” despite having more than 40 first-team players on their books on Wednesday as he also challenged Raheem Sterling’s claim that he is in the dark over his future.
A hectic summer transfer window for Chelsea continued on Wednesday with Conor Gallagher completing his £34 million ($44.4m) move to Atlético Madrid while João Félix has become the club’s 11th signing of the summer window as he finalised his move in his opposite direction.
Maresca confirmed that a significant number of players are training away from the first-team group having been deemed surplus to requirements, with several high-profile players in that group including Gallagher prior to his departure, Ben Chilwell, Trevoh Chalobah and Sterling.
Today’s session is with 20 players, yesterday’s session was with 21. So they other 15 or 20, they are training apart. In the USA [during preseason] we had 26 or 27 players so [are there] Chelsea players, 42, 43, yes for sure. But they are not working with me every day. I don’t see them. So it is not a mess like it looks from outside, absolutely not.”
“I am just here to make the right decision for the team, no more than that. About the contract situation, it is not my job.”
