Enzo Maresca told Carney Chukwuemeka to leave Chelsea amid failed attempt to sell despite AC Milan and Barcelona interest

The 20-year-old winger, who joined the Blues in 2022, has struggled for minutes under new manager Maresca in the ongoing season. He has made only one appearance for the club this season which came against Barrow in the Carabao Cup.

Now Maresca has admitted he wanted the youngster to exit Stamford Bridge in order to play more matches instead of staying back and fighting for his place in the Premier League. During the summer transfer window, the player was linked with moves to AC Milan and Barcelona, however, a deal never materialised.

Speaking to reporters after the club's convincing 4-2 win over Brighton, the Italian coach said: "I will say exactly the same thing I have said many times: Carney is a very good player, but for the amount of players we have, we decided at the beginning of the season it is probably better to leave and go somewhere, prove himself and playing 30 or 35 games than being here and play less games. Unfortunately that didn't happen. He is our player. He had some minutes the other day, today he was not involved. Hopefully, we can give him more minutes."

The London side will be next seen in action on Thursday night as they take on Gent in a Europa Conference League clash at Stamford Bridge.