Malo Gusto has shared which Chelsea player reached out to him straight away when he signed for the club last year.
Chelsea completed the signing of Malo Gusto from Lyon back in January 2023, but he remained with the French club on loan for the remainder of the 2022/23 campaign. It’s fair to say that the right-back’s debut season at Stamford Bridge last year was a huge success.
Gusto played 37 games across all competitions last season for the Blues, creating nine assists. The 21-year-old’s started this new campaign as an important player under head coach Enzo Maresca, too.
Unfortunately, the French defender is an injury doubt going into this weekend’s Premier League trip to Bournemouth. The Evening Standard reports that Gusto is not expected back until 21 September against West Ham.
Malo Gusto shares detail of Reece James message
Gusto has shared that Chelsea’s Reece James was the first player to message him when he signed for the west London club.
It’s interesting because the duo are direct rivals for the starting right-back position, but 24-year-old star James has grown into a leader and is now the club captain.
Gusto said via Chelsea’s YouTube channel: “Even before I signed, there were three to four teammates, I think Reece, that instantly DM’ed me [on Instagram]. Yeah, like ‘welcome bro’. It was a really good decision to come here.”
Chelsea can rotate outstanding pair
It’s a huge blessing that Chelsea have both James and Gusto as their options at right-back. On top of that, 18-year-old youngster Josh Acheampong is someone to watch out for in the near future.
There’s great logic behind rotating James and Gusto this season, especially because the former has a record of injury problems in the last few years. When both players are fit, Maresca will be left with a huge selection headache on a weekly basis.
It could be an extremely draining season because of the domestic and European competitions, so Chelsea need to use their squad smartly.
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