Yahoo Sports Chelsea: Ben Chilwell back in the fold but is there hope of a happy union?
From the bomb squad to Barrow, and only a spot on the bench at that. As taglines go for comeback stories, it does not promise much.
Last night's visit of the League Two leaders, though, did eventually offer Ben Chilwell the first chance this season to begin the revival of his career, sent on as a half-time substitute in the 5-0 cruise for his first Chelsea appearance since April.
Frozen out by Enzo Maresca at the start of the summer, among the fat to be trimmed from Chelsea’s bloated squad, the left-back’s time at Stamford Bridge appeared to be accelerating towards an unseemly end. When by September, with the transfer window shut, he was unsold but not registered even to play in the Conference League, a long winter in the cold lay ahead.
Maresca’s stance, though, has softened amid an acceptance that Chilwell was personally blameless in the club’s failure to find a buyer for a player who cost the best part of £50million when signed from Leicester four years ago and remains on hefty wages now.
He was included in a 25-man Premier League squad earlier this month, brought back into first-team training and given a rousing ovation when sent on for Malo Gusto at the interval last night, in what Maresca confirmed later was a pre-planned change.
“[He was] very good,” the Italian said. “It was not easy for Chilly. He didn't get any minutes this season but he has shown he is there, he is ready and working well.
“There is not any problem. If we have a chance, we will give him some more minutes in games."
Dogged by injury and left out of England’s Euro 2024 squad, Chilwell’s career had stalled even before his exile under Maresca threatened to blow it up. Strangely, though, in the time that his footballing existence has effectively been paused, not much else has progressed either.
England still do not have specialist competition or back-up for Luke Shaw, who still cannot stay fit. Blues team-mate Levi Colwill, in excellent form at centre-back for his club, and the position-less Rico Lewis started interim boss Lee Carsley’s first two matches, while if anything Kieran Trippier’s retirement from international football has narrowed the field.
Having Chilwell train alone for half a season would not have done him any favours or helped the club find a buyer
The situation at Chelsea is not dissimilar. Marc Cucurella is the clear first choice and playing well, but his back-up is the versatile Renato Veiga, who spent most of last season at Basel in midfield. Colwill is an option there, too, but is surely playing too well in the middle to risk a move.
In short, as far as Chilwell appears from serious contention right now, it is also not difficult to imagine how circumstance - an injury or suspension elsewhere - might provide a fast route back. That Chelsea could play 80 games this season, running through to the Club World Cup final in mid-July, offers plenty of scope for dials to shift and pieces to move.
The question, though, is whether Maresca really is open to the possibility of a revival, or whether long-term, his mind is already made up. That he still could not get a start against fourth-tier opposition in an entirely changed XI does not bode especially well. And clearly, if Chilwell cannot get back playing regularly at his club, any hopes of reviving his England career are shot, whether Carsley rates him or not.
Maresca evidently did not fancy Chilwell at first glance when taking the Blues job this summer and his reintegration now is not the result of some grand epiphany, but rather the fact that in the great Chelsea fire sale, he was the one player left on the shelf.
Having the 27-year-old train alone for half a season would not have done him any favours, but nor would it have helped the club find a buyer in January or next summer, if that is the way things pan out. Bringing Chilwell back into the fold now made sense for all parties, but offers no guarantee of a happy union from hereon in.
All Chilwell can do though, is train hard and play well, if and when more opportunities for the latter come. Barrow in the Carabao Cup was hardly the most glamorous opening, but it was an opening nonetheless.
