Enzo Maresca confirms £50m Chelsea player was ready to leave the club in the summer

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Chelsea let some big players leave the club during the summer transfer window.

Raheem Sterling, Thiago Silva and Conor Gallagher, who were all important players for Chelsea last season, departed Stamford Bridge.

Sterling has only left the club on loan, but following the arrivals of Jadon Sancho and Pedro Neto, you cannot see a way back for the 29-year-old. Enzo Maresca sees Neto as a right winger, one of the positions Sterling is capable of playing in.

Maresca has now confirmed that one of his current players was prepared to leave west London in the summer.

• READ MORE: The two Premier League clubs who want to sign Ben Chilwell in January

Enzo Maresca discusses Ben Chilwell situation

Initially, Ben Chilwell was frozen out of Chelsea’s squad. However, he has now returned and Maresca has hinted that he could actually end up using him.

Maresca also revealed that Chilwell was ready to join another club after being exiled from the main group at Cobham.

Speaking to The Independent and other outlets ahead of Chelsea’s match against West Ham United, the 44-year-old said: “Ben is one of the guys who was ready to leave, but he’s here and he’s training with us.

“He’s our player. The situation with him was very clear, but now the situation has changed a little bit. Game after game we are going to consider in case we are going to use him.”

Should Enzo Maresca use Ben Chilwell this season?

While Maresca still has him, he may as well. Chilwell is not a bad left-back; he is anything but.

The 27-year-old is an England international with more than 150 appearances in the Premier League.

Defensively, Chilwell is quite solid. As per FBref, the former Leicester City man has ranked in the 97th percentile for blocks and the 95th for clearances among full-backs over the last year.

The main problem right now is whether the £50m defender can play as an inverted full-back, while his injury record also remains a concern.

Having been more than open to getting rid of him, Maresca obviously has his doubts. And there is still a possibility that Chilwell leaves in January.

However, he has been given a bit of an opportunity here, and it is now up to him to take it and prove his manager wrong.