Enzo Maresca appears to have offered Ben Chilwell a chance to revive his Chelsea career.
Chilwell, 27, was made available for transfer by Chelsea at the start of the summer after failing to fit into Maresca’s tactical plans.
The 27-year-old was linked with a move to Manchester United with Newcastle United also holding discussions about possibly bringing him to St. James’ Park.
A transfer away from Stamford Bridge failed to materialise for the former Leicester City left-back. Although a late move to Turkey was also mooted, Chilwell has been forced to stay in London and continue with the Blues.
Enzo Maresca hands Ben Chilwell Chelsea lifeline
However, in a surprising turn of events, Maresca, who spoke to reporters ahead of his side’s Premier League match against Bournemouth on Saturday, has admitted the 27-year-old could resume first-team training.
“Ben [Chilwell] is just about the only one [of players the club wanted to loan or sell] still here,” he said, as quoted by Ben Jacobs.
“We are going to sit with him and find a solution. He’s probably going to be back with us in training, because he’s doing that at the moment. He was training apart because the idea was for him to leave, but probably now he’s going to start training with us.”
Chilwell, who has three years left on his contract, has not featured competitively since April when he came on for Marc Cucurella with two minutes left to play against Manchester City in the FA Cup.