“Yes, especially because…” – Enzo Maresca promises youth star a start next week | OneFootball

Chelsea got a much needed morale boosting big win tonight as they beat Southampton 4-0 at Stamford Bridge.

By half time the game was pretty much won, and it just needed seeing out in the second half. That allowed manager Enzo Maresca to make some fun changes, including a host of young players and a couple of debutants who came on.

The player we wanted to see most was Tyrique George, who’s made a great impression in the Conference League and is pressing for more minutes as Chelsea’s attackers are struck by injury. We were disappointing he didn’t feature against Aston Villa, but he got a decent bit of time off the bench tonight, and speaking after the game, Maresca all but promised him a start in our next game, in the Conference League next week:

“Yes [he is in line for a start]. Especially because we have the Conference League and then Leicester. For us, the priority is to take the club to where it need to be – which is the Champions League.”

The coach then joked about the quantity of youngsters on the pitch by full time, with George joined by Mathis Amougou, Josh Acheampong and Shim Mheuka:

“Probably, there were too many young players at the end of the game [laughs]. The Chelsea academy has always been a good one. We have already many players like Levi Colwill and hopefully in the future, we can have more.”

George has earned more than just Conference League starts

Tyrique George in the Conference League. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

George picked up an assist with a great ball to Marc Cucurella tonight, and must be so close to getting Premier League starts. With Pedro Neto deployed (with great effect) up front and Noni Madueke out injured, it’s just Jadon Sancho and Christopher Nkunku standing between the 19 year old and the first team, and neither of them are in great form.