Chilwell told he can leave Chelsea

Ben Chilwell has been told he is not in Enzo Maresca’s plans and can leave Chelsea. 

Chilwell played just 64 minutes of the Blues’ pre-season campaign and last Sunday was left on the bench for a  friendly against Inter Milan despite new head coach Maresca making a host of second-half changes to his team.

The 27-year-old England left-back only signed a new contract that ties him to the club until 2027 last year, but Maresca, who has split his huge squad into two training groups, sees no future for Chilwell at Stamford Bridge.

The Italian said: “Chilly is with us but he has not been training for the last few days because he has been ill.

“But the reason he did not play versus Inter was because, with Chilly it is quite clear, even though I love the way he is, the problem is, he is struggling a bit to find the right position.

“This morning we had 22 players training and if you ask all of them they will say they want to play against Manchester City on Sunday.

“But that is impossible. When you train every day and do not get any minutes it is not good for them or for me.”

Chilwell hoped to re-establish himself as a first-team regular after being badly hampered by injury problems.

But Maresca said: “I need to make a decision and probably it is better to leave and go and get minutes. The transfer window is open, so we’ll see what happens.

“We spent 20 days in America with 28 or 29 players, so it was quite good to manage the squad.

“Now we have guys who are not part of the squad and are training apart.

“At the moment, it is not difficult, but if I start to think I have 43 players it’s not good.”

Meanwhile, Chelsea midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu has joined Southampton on a season-long loan.