It became an issue Chelsea fans wanted to know about when it was reported that Raheem Sterling and Ben Chilwell were not included in the current squad. He was forced to train separately from the first team.
Sterling was not included in the 2-0 defeat to Manchester City in the opening game of the season. The media even thought there might be an internal dispute, but current manager Enzo Maresca told the media that he had previously informed the players that they would not be named in the match.
Before Sterling and Chilwell were cut from the first team, I didn’t train with the current squad of friends, who, Maresca said, aside from those two, there were more than 15 players who had to train separately. Asked by a reporter if that was a harsh decision, Maresca replied: “no”
“Is that harsh? I don’t think so. I’ll be honest and repeat if it’s not clear, I spoke to Raheem before the Manchester City game and I told him he would have to work harder to play for us on the pitch. That’s why he left the team that day.”
“As for Chelley (Chilwell), I would say you are a lovely person. But he has to be more dedicated to his position. If you think it is harsh, that is up to you to decide. I think it is not harsh. It is a matter of honesty.”
As for the news that Mariska should work with the players, “singing the blues” There were up to 42 people until they had to make the decision to exclude unnecessary players, and Mariska said that wasn't right. “I don’t work with 42 or 43 players. You like to say we have that many players. But there were only 15 people who had to be cut off from training. It’s not as chaotic as it looks from the outside.”
The thing is that he may decide to release unused players. Maresca responded by moving to another team before the summer transfer window closed on August 30. “As I've said many times. There are many things that can happen in the next ten days or weeks. So we'll have to see.”