Chelsea must sell £200k-p/w outcast who Granovskaia dubbed “fantastic”

Chelsea look like they are turning a corner following two years of misery as Enzo Maresca has steadied the ship at Stamford Bridge.

Not only has the Italian led the Blues to four straight wins in the Europa Conference League, seeing the club top the table, but at the time of writing, Chelsea are currently sitting pretty in the Premier League, just seven points adrift of Liverpool in second place.

Maresca’s only previous head coach role was at Leicester City last season, where he led the Foxes to the Championship title and a return to the top flight after a single campaign away.

Hopefully, his spell in charge of the club will go better than the last time Chelsea appointed a manager with just one previous managerial role before joining the Blues…

Frank Lampard’s stats in charge of Chelsea

When Frank Lampard was appointed the manager of Derby County in 2018, it always seemed inevitable that he would end up managing Chelsea one day.

His single season at Pride Park saw Lampard take the Rams to the playoff final, although they lost to Aston Villa. It was an impressive start to life in the dugout for the former Chelsea legend, but his next move came out of the blue.

In the summer of 2019, he was announced as the new manager at Stamford Bridge. His maiden season saw the Blues finish fourth in the Premier League along with reaching the FA Cup final. Defeat to Arsenal meant Lampard missed out on securing his first piece of silverware as boss.

Hopes were high ahead of the 2020/21 campaign, especially with the transfer embargo at the club lifted, but the Englishman lasted until January before being sacked with the club in ninth position in the league.

Frank Lampard’s transfer record at Chelsea

The summer of 2020 was the first window in which Lampard could make signings for the club, having relied heavily on those from the youth system due to the embargo in place.

That summer, the London side signed the likes of Kai Havertz, Timo Werner, Thiago Silva, Hakim Ziyech and Edouard Mendy, who would all go on to play key roles in the club’s Champions League triumph at the end of the season.

From a domestic point of view, Lampard also signed Leicester City defender Ben Chilwell for a fee in the region of £45m and he was expected to hold down the left-back role for the foreseeable future.

The defender was hailed by Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia at the time, who said:

“We are confident Ben will adapt very quickly to being a Chelsea player and with the fixture programme for 2020-21 especially busy, he is a fantastic addition to the squad needed to challenge for honours.”

Chilwell had made over 100 appearances for the Foxes since making his debut back in 2015 and while it was a lavish fee spent, aged just 23 at the time, the left-back looked like a wonderful signing.

Ben Chilwell’s Chelsea statistics

The Englishman couldn’t have enjoyed a better debut season. Across all competitions, he made 42 appearances, including ten in their victorious Champions League campaign.

He managed just 13 games the following year due to injury, but recovered to make his way back into the first-team picture during the 2022/23 season, registering four goal contributions in 23 Premier League matches.

He was besieged by more injury problems last term, despite being made vice-captain by Mauricio Pochettino. He was only fit enough to start 13 games across the entire season, missing large sections due to hamstring and knee issues which meant he couldn’t secure consistent football.

Despite his lack of time on the pitch, Chilwell still managed to create three big chances, average 1.1 key passes, 0.5 dribbles and win 3.5 total duels per game in the Premier League.

These statistics were more than respectable given his injury problems, ensuring he was a crucial member of the first-team squad under the Argentinian.

It finally looks as though he is over these setbacks which derailed his Chelsea career in recent years, but new manager Maresca doesn’t appear to have him in his plans.

Why Chelsea must now sell Ben Chilwell

Maresca has been utilising his squad depth this term to great effect, but there are certainly downsides to having such riches available.

Not everyone is going to be getting regular game time. This is fine for the younger talents, who can be patient and bide their time, but with the older, more experienced players, all they want to do is play football.

Chilwell comes under the latter category, but this term, he has played only one senior game for the club. This was a 5-0 win over Barrow in the League Cup back in September.

During the game, he created a big chance, made two key passes and won 100% of his duels contested during the tie, but this still wasn’t enough to ensure more game time in the matches that followed.

Maresca can call upon Marc Cucurella, who won Euro 2024 with Spain in the summer, as his main option at left-back, while Levi Colwill can also perform in this position should Maresca need cover.

Renato Viega has impressed on the left side of the defence in the Conference League too, meaning the manager has more than enough players for this area.

Chilwell is currently earning £200k-per-week, which is an absurd amount of money for someone who has featured just once throughout the entire season so far.

There is no doubt that he is surplus to requirements and this could see Maresca perhaps move him out the door when January comes around, with a move seemingly in the pipeline in 2025.

With his contract not expiring until 2027, the Blues may be able to recoup a decent fee for the left-back next month should there be any interest.

If so, it would make sense for all parties to cut ties and look towards the future.