Enzo Maresca reveals why Marc Guiu is 'a bit unhappy' at Chelsea despite hat-trick

In partnership with

Evening Standard

·19 Desember 2024

Enzo Maresca reveals why Marc Guiu is 'a bit unhappy' at Chelsea despite hat-trick

Blues boss also unable to guarantee that summer signing Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall will remain at Stamford Bridge in January

Enzo Maresca admitted Marc Guiu has been “a bit unhappy” at his lack of Premier League involvement this season - and hinted that players in a similar boat could ask to leave the club next month.

Video OneFootball

Guiu scored a first-half hat-trick as the Blues thrashed Shamrock Rovers 5-1 to make it six wins from six in the Conference League league phase on Thursday night.

The 18-year-old, signed from Barcelona in the summer, is now the leading scorer in the competition with six goals, but remains behind both Nicolas Jackson and Christopher Nkunku in the centre-forward pecking order and has not featured at all in the Premier League since the opening day of the season.

“Marc is a bit unhappy as Nicolas [Jackson] and Christopher [Nkunku] are doing well,” Maresca explained.

“When you’re a No9 and another No9 is doing well, it is a matter of being questioned. It is important that they work hard day by day and then they get a chance.”

Chelsea’s perfect record in the Conference League means they qualify directly to the last 16, which does not start until early March.

Maresca has rotated heavily in Europe this term in order to keep his large squad both sharp and happy, but now faces a difficult balancing act during the hiatus, with the risk that some of those who have struggled for regular game time could ask to leave in January.

Asked whether he could guarantee that one of those, summer signing Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, would not be leaving amid speculation over an immediate loan return to Leicester, Maresca said: “Unfortunately, I cannot say that. Not about Kiernan or about all the squad. When the transfer window is open anything can happen.

“We don’t want one of our players to leave but the problem is that sometimes the question is more for them. Sometimes they say: ‘Okay, you don’t want me to leave [but] I’m not happy, I want to play more.’

“In that case, we are not going to say: ‘No, you have to stay’. It’s a matter of agreement between the club and the player.”

Meanwhile, Maresca will wait to see how the January window plays out before deciding whether to add Cole Palmer, Wesley Fofana and Romeo Lavia to his European squad.

All three players were left out of the league phase squad in a bid to manage their workloads, but teams are allowed to register three new players ahead of the knockout phase.

“It depends also a bit about the January transfer window,” Maresca said. “It depends if players will leave or arrive. Talking this moment about the next squad, I don’t know, we don’t have any idea.”