Many Chelsea fans want their £20m player to make his first start of the season vs Gent

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There’s a big section of the Chelsea fanbase that is calling for one of their players to be handed his first start of the season this week against Gent.

Chelsea begin the group stages of the Conference League tournament on Thursday night by hosting Belgian outfit Gent at Stamford Bridge.

Enzo Maresca’s side are pre-tournament favourites due to the sheer quality and depth of the Blues squad, but they’re bidding to become the first club to win every major European trophy.

Jose Mourinho once hailed the “special” Conference League after winning the prize with Roma back in 2022. Let’s see if Chelsea can now add their name to the list of tournament winners.

• READ MORE: How to watch Chelsea vs Gent: The Blues’ first UEFA Conference League match since play-off win

Chelsea fans hungry for Carney Chukwuemeka to play

A selection of Chelsea supporters on social media believe that Carney Chukwuemeka should come into the starting line-up versus Gent.

The £20m attacking midfielder (Sky Sports) has only made one appearance across all competitions so far, starting zero times.

Here are many Blues fans on X demanding that Chukwuemeka starts versus Gent in tonight’s European tie.

@cfcgift said: “Start Chukwuemeka.”

@ballaghCFC claimed: “Chukwuemeka has to start.”

@Destiny0056 shared: “I would love Chukwuemeka to start ahead of him (Cesare Casadei).”

@Chelseafan9797 uploaded: “He (Chukwuemeka) better start tomorrow over Casadei or KDH (Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall), he’s head and shoulders.”

He deserves more minutes

Chukwuemeka, who’s a very talented youngster, has been so unfortunate to be frozen out of the picture by Maresca so far this season. The fact his only minutes so far were a late cameo in the League Cup against Barrow is baffling to us.

Journalist Simon Phillips recently reported via Substack that Chukwuemeka is training well and with a great attitude. However, the English midfielder continues to be overlooked on a matchday.

With Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall struggling to set the world alight so far in a Chelsea shirt since his summer arrival, Chukwuemeka deserves to come into the picture for more minutes in the centre of the park.