Enzo Maresca admits transfer talk has '100 per cent' impacted Chelsea players

Evening Standard

·31 gennaio 2025

Enzo Maresca admits transfer talk has '100 per cent' impacted Chelsea players

Blues have slumped in recent weeks ahead of clash against West Ham

Enzo Maresca believes January transfer speculation around his Chelsea players has “100 per cent” played a part in midseason slump.

OneFootball Video

The Blues have slipped from the brink of title contention into a scrap for the European places across the course of a dismal run of form since the middle of last month.

Maresca’s side have won just one of their last seven Premier League matches and could be seventh in the table by the time Chelsea take on West Ham on Monday night.

That run has coincided with the ramping up of transfer talk leading into the January window and continued throughout this month.

A significant number of Maresca’s players - including Axel Disasi, Cesare Casadei, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Joao Felix and Christopher Nkunku - have been linked with other clubs, while Renato Veiga has already left to join Juventus on loan.

Asked whether the outside noise has affected his team, Maresca said: “100 per cent.”

“Not only us but all the teams. In the end, they are human beings. Even if they say: ‘No, I am professional, I am focused’, if they are talking to other clubs then they are probably not focused 100 per cent. It’s not just for us. This can be something.”

There remains uncertainty over the futures of several of those players, most notably Nkunku, Felix and Disasi, heading into the final days of the window.

Meanwhile, Chelsea continue to be linked with forward additions, including Manchester United’s Alejandro Garnacho and Bayern Munich’s Mathys Tel.

“I don’t have any ideas about the ones that can leave and the ones that can arrive,” Maresca added. “Anything can happen. For me, the main focus is on 48 hours, the game and is the main focus and the most important thing.”