Enzo Maresca responds to Chelsea exit rumours for Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall
- Dewsbury-Hall heavily linked with January exit from Chelsea
- Summer signing struggling to hold down regular position in squad
- Maresca refuses to rule out loan move for former Leicester midfielder
By Tom Gott
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has admitted he cannot rule out a January departure for midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
Dewsbury-Hall joined Chelsea from Leicester City for a fee of £30m during the summer, one month after Maresca made the same move, but he has managed just 55 minutes of Premier League action and has often failed to make Maresca's matchday squads in the competition.
Instead, Dewsbury-Hall has been a regular starter in the Conference League, even getting on the scoresheet in Thursday's 5-1 win over Shamrock Rovers.
Because of his limited role, Dewsbury-Hall has been heavily linked with a loan move to a whole host of Premier League sides - recent reports named Arsenal as leading suitors - and Maresca confessed he was unsure what the future holds for the 26-year-old.
Asked whether Dewsbury-Hall will still be at Chelsea after the January window, Maresca responded: "Unfortunately I cannot say that, not about Kiernan, about all the squad, because when the transfer window is open, unfortunately anything can happen.
"So I'm not focused on January, the only thing I can say about Kiernan is that we are very happy in the way he's working, we are very happy about his performance, and this is my thought about Kiernan.
"We don't want one of our players to leave, the problem is that sometimes the question is more for them, that if they say, 'OK, you don't want me to leave, but I'm not happy, I want to play more'. So in that case, we are not going to say, 'No, you have to stay, yes or yes'. It's a matter of agreement between the club and the player, the only thing I can say is that we are happy with Kiernan, then we'll see."
Maresca was also asked a similar question about 18-year-old striker Marc Guiu, who stole the show with a hat-trick in Thursday's victory.
"Yeah, with Marc the problem is that sometimes we forget the age," Maresca said. "He's the same age as Joshua Acheampong, Ty [George], he already scored six goals in this competition, and since we started he's working well, he's taking his chance, and he knows that with Nicolas [Jackson] there, with Christo [Nkunku] there, it's not easy for him, but it's important that he continues to work in the right way."
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