Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has praised one player at the club who’s really impressing him despite his lack of starts.
Enzo Maresca must have a big headache each game when it comes to his team selection, largely because he’s got such a deep squad to choose from.
So far, we’ve seen the Italian head coach stick with the same core of players to start in the Premier League matches. He’s usually shuffled his pack in the various cup competitions, though.
Journalist Fabrizio Romano previously reported via The Debrief that Chelsea’s players are “very happy” with how Maresca is handling things, so he’s clearly finding the right balance to keep the majority of the squad on his side.
Enzo Maresca impressed by Joao Felix
The Chelsea manager has delivered glowing praise on Joao Felix for his positive impact since joining in the summer from Atletico Madrid.
Unfortunately, he’s only started twice this season, both in cup matches. The 24-year-old attacker has still received some compliments ahead of Chelsea’s game away to Panathinaikos on Thursday evening in the Conference League.
“Joao, since he arrived, he is doing very well with us. He is doing fantastic. I don’t have nothing to say about Joao in terms of bad things. Everything I can say are good things,” Maresca said, as quoted by Football.London.
“The only thing is that we have Joao, but we also have more players that are unfortunately not playing but not because they are not doing well during the week. It’s because the ones that are playing at the moment are doing very well. The only thing Joao has to do is to continue to work in the way he is working and hopefully soon we can give him some more chances.”
Joao Felix biding his time
Felix has had to show patience in the opening months of the season. It must be pretty alien for the Portugal international to find himself completely frozen out of the best XI.
The creative forward, who’s operating as a No 10 when he does feature, needs to make sure he’s ready to pounce on any opportunity that comes his way. For example, he’s got to try put on a masterclass versus Panathinaikos this week to twist Maresca’s arm into giving him more chances in the league.
Speaking recently via The Metro, Pat Nevin insisted people should refrain from writing Felix off yet.
When Felix is fit and firing, he’s definitely still a special individual that should bring a lot at Stamford Bridge.
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