John Obi Mikel baffled by Enzo Maresca’s decision to drop Chelsea player who’s ‘a little bit like’ 508-game club legend

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Despite Chelsea’s little blip, Enzo Maresca has got most things right at the club this season.

However, John Obi Mikel cannot get his head around one decision that Enzo Maresca makes from time to time.

Some of the Chelsea manager‘s recent decisions have backfired. For example, he chose to make five changes for the Blues’ last game against Ipswich Town, which ended in defeat.

But again, he has done a lot of good at the club since taking over, hence why his team find themselves in the top four, which was their objective heading into the campaign. Maresca had to go straight over to Enzo Fernandez at the end of his side’s most recent loss, with the Argentine fuming at the full-time whistle.

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John Obi Mikel doesn’t understand why Enzo Maresca drops Malo Gusto

Malo Gusto had a small injury problem near the beginning of the season, but the defender is fully fit again.

Even so, he has not been an automatic starter for Maresca despite Reece James’ unavailability this term.

The 21-year-old started in the 2-1 loss to Fulham but was then dropped for the Ipswich defeat. Maresca went with Axel Disasi instead, completely baffling Mikel.

Discussing Gusto on his podcast, the Chelsea legend said: “I like Malo Gusto. For me, he’s Mr Consistency, a little bit like [Cesar] Azpilicueta, isn’t he? But I have no idea why the manager sometimes drops him and plays Disasi there.”

Malo Gusto not as consistent as Cesar Azpilicueta yet

Gusto has been a good addition to this Chelsea squad, but the right-back has not really shown the kind of consistency Mikel has spoken about this season.

Last term, Gusto was quite effective in attack. He bombed forward and got into dangerous crossing positions.

In the current campaign, though, Gusto has not carried the same threat. Having to come into midfield at times as an inverted full-back looks to have impacted the Frenchman, who has only registered one assist so far in the Premier League.

In contrast, Azpilicueta always looked like he had a dangerous cross in him, even when playing at right centre-back in a back three, while the Spaniard was rarely ever beaten one-v-one.

Azpilicueta finished his Chelsea career with 17 goals and 51 assists in 508 games. For as good as Gusto has been for the Blues, it is not wise to compare him to Azpilicueta at this moment in time.