Chelsea have a number of stars currently away from first-team contention under Enzo Maresca – and one in particular was forced to play alongside the Blues’ youngsters
Chelsea misfit Axel Disasi played for the club’s under-21 squad after seeing his Stamford Bridge nightmare worsen. The French defender has been a disastrous signing for the Blues after joining for £38.5million from Monaco in 2023.
Disasi made 44 appearances across his debut campaign but fell down the pecking order under Enzo Maresca last term, eventually finding himself on loan at Premier League rivals Aston Villa.
The defender returned to West London this summer but failed to find a new club so was forced to stay at Stamford Bridge. Things then got worse for Disasi as he was left out of Chelsea’s Premier League squad.
And now, he has been training with the club’s young players in an effort to keep his fitness up. He appeared in their most recent game, captaining the Blues’ youth side as they beat Reading 4-1.
Disasi’s performance was intended to keep his fitness levels up so that he can put himself in the shop window to potential suitors ahead of the January transfer window. It remains to be seen whether he can actually seal a move away, with switches to West Ham, Sunderland and Bournemouth having all fallen by the wayside late in the summer window.
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“I’ve been in Raheem’s situation and Axel’s situation as a player,” Enzo Maresca said earlier this season about Disasi and fellow exile Raheem Sterling. “I know that it’s not the best feeling, because if you’re a player it means you want to train and play.
“But for different reasons, the situation is what it is in this moment. I know that the club is giving them the opportunity to work in the right way, and this is the only thing I can say.
“It’s something you like to talk about but it’s not just Chelsea, it’s any club in the world, I can promise you. Italy, Spain, England, France, USA, Brazil, any country in the world. For any reason the player and the club doesn’t find a solution, if you are not involved in the squad you are not involved in the squad.”
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However, Maresca refused to acknowledge that the situation both stars found themselves in was difficult. He added: “My father is 75 years old, and for 50 years he has been a fisherman working from two o’clock in the morning until 10 o’clock in the morning. This is a hard life. Not the way a player works.”
Disasi still has just over four years to run on his contract with Chelsea.
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