Chelsea have already decided to sell 'very good' player in January with 'work in progress'

Chelsea have already made a decision to sell one of their players in the January transfer window, according to a fresh report. The Blues offloaded a number of unwanted players over the summer, including Romelu Lukaku, and many others.

The departures allowed Chelsea to balance their spending, at least in the summer just gone, but they did not manage to get everyone out through the Stamford Bridge exit doors. Enzo Maresca has been clear with Ben Chilwell and Carney Chukwuemeka are not going to be featuring regularly despite being allowed back into the first-team squad. Both players were training with the so-called ‘bomb squad’ coming into the season.

In Chukwuemeka’s case, Maresca said this week: “I will say exactly the same thing I have said many times: Carney is a very good player. But for the amount of players we have, we decided at the beginning of the season it is probably better to leave and go somewhere, prove himself and play 30 or 35 games than be here and play less games.

"Unfortunately, that didn't happen. He is our player. He had some minutes the other day, today he was not involved. Hopefully, we can give him more minutes."

A January departure?

In the wake of those comments, transfer ‘insider’ Fabrizio Romano has claimed Chelsea will indeed pursue a deal to sell Chukwuemeka in the winter window, despite having only signed him for £20million from Aston Villa in 2022.

“Enzo Maresca has always been very honest and clear with his players, and has never hidden things, even when he speaks to the press in public,” Romano told CaughtOffside. “Maresca clarified that the plan this summer for Chelsea was for Carney to leave, but only to a club that would give him a good opportunity.

“A club where he could play 38 games, not moving to a club where he was not going to be a regular starter. This was why Chelsea rejected many approaches from Milan and others during the summer transfer window.

“Carney ended up staying of course but he’s not playing, so the club will look for a solution in January. The player wants to play and Chelsea don’t want him to stay out of the squad for too long, so work is in progress already.”