England’s left-back, Chilwell has only made one appearance throughout the season for the blues, coming on as a halftime substitute in a 5-0 Carabao Cup victory over Barrow. At the beginning of the season, the 27-year-old was training separately in hopes of leaving the team, but that didn’t work out, so he has since joined the first team’s training.

Chukwuemeka, who cost £20 million to sign from Aston Villa in January 2023, has only made cameos in the Conference League, however he was left out of the starting lineup for Thursday’s 5-1 thumping of Shamrock Rovers. Maresca anticipates that both will wish to depart in his interview before Chelsea’s Sunday trip to Everton.

He said: “There are players that unfortunately didn’t play a lot with us in all the competitions like (Ben) Chilwell, like Carney (Chukwuemeka).
“Probably they are the first [to say] that they want to leave because they train every day, because they want to play games and if they don’t play games probably they are thinking of leaving.
“Each player is a bit different situation, so we’re going to see if some of them are coming and knocking on the door to say ‘I want to leave’ or something like that. We will try to find a solution.”

TALKING ABOUT MARC GUIU

Maresca has urge Chelsea youngsters to stay around the first team but hasn’t ruled out striker Marc Guiu, who scored a hat-trick against Shamrock, heading out on loan in January.

“I think with young players like Marc (Guiu), like Josh (Acheampong), like Ty (Tyrique George), for me the best thing for them is to be with us,” said Maresca.
“They can understand every day the way we want to play, they can grow, we can teach them how we want them to play, so I think it’s better if they stay with us.

“Then it depends a little bit also on the desire of the players. If, in this case, Marc’s desire is to get more minutes and to play more, we sit with him and we decide together.”

They finished top of the Conference League table ensuring direct passage to the last 16, meaning a hiatus from European duty until March.

ABOUT THE PLAYER SELECTIONS IN COMING WEEKS

“I’m not worried about the next three months, if the players are happy or not,” said Maresca. “We have many games, if they do the right things, if they work properly for sure they all are going to have a chance to play.
“Next week we have three games (against Everton, Fulham and Ipswich), so we continue to play many games. Then in January the FA Cup will start.

“Game by game we’re going to try to choose the best XI, or the ones we think are the right ones for that game.”
Reece James, who has not featured since November’s draw with Arsenal, was expected to make a partial return to first-team training on Friday as he continues his recovery from a hamstring injury.

“It doesn’t mean he’s going to be with us on Sunday or next Sunday,” said Maresca. “The plan is part of the session he’ll be with the team then from there to try to build the right conditions for him.”