“Not ready” – Maresca just broke hopeful fans’ hearts over one team selection | OneFootball

Injuries have spread from Chelsea’s strikers to their wingers, with Noni Madueke the latest to go down hurt.

With him joining Mykhailo Mudryk on the sidelines, Jadon Sancho and Pedro Neto are now the team’s only fit first team wingers, bumping academy starlet Tyrique George up to to third choice.

We had said earlier this week that this would be the perfect change to start Ty and for Maresca to give the youngster the starts he said he deserves. However we were never too hopeful – like most coaches Maresca is very cautious when it comes to throwing inexperienced players in – frustratingly so, for fans.

His quotes on the subject in the presser today made it very clear that George is not getting a Premier League start anytime soon:

“For sure, [George] is a young one so he is probably not ready 100% but because of the amount of injuries we have. Ty is a young profile, he is doing well and because in some moments we do not have different options, we need to give him chances and hopefully we can give him more chances and he can help us.”

George will have to be content as a a sub once again – for now

Tyrique George in action for Chelsea. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

It does sound like he will get plenty of minutes off the bench however, and we all saw against Brighton last week that a solid half an hour is enough to at least allow him to get into the game.

We’d still like a start – but regular 30-35 minute appearances as a sub will keep us happy for now. He’s closer than ever to starter status, and with both Neto and Sancho really disappointing in the last few weeks, it’s certainly not impossible he actually cements a starting stop in the next couple of weeks.