“Club decision” to loan defender clears way for Maresca to start him immediately | OneFootball

Chelsea fans are likely delighted about the recall of Trevoh Chalobah this month – he was our best defender last season, and is needed in the lineup now.

The question is how Chalobah feels about it. After being messed around so much already, is he happy to be back? How does he feel about playing for the team that’s tried twice to sell him off now?

The good news is that whatever his feelings towards the club are, he bears no ill will towards Enzo Maresca personally – at least according to Liam Twomey’s piece in the Athletic.

There it’s claimed that “Chalobah and Maresca had positive interactions in the Italian’s early days at Cobham,” and that the decision to loan him out was made by the club, not the manager. That should ease the awkwardness a little.

With Benoit Badiashile and Wesley Fofana out injured, Axel Disasi set to be sold, Tosin not really fancied and Josh Acheampong still so young, there’s a great chance Chalobah goes straight into the first team.

Chalobah prepared to step in right away to help flagging Chelsea season

Trevoh Chalobah established himself as a starter at Palace (Photo by: Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images)

We looked at the stats yesterday and worked out that, according to WhoScored’s rankings, Chalobah would be the highest rated defender at Chelsea this season. While he wasn’t allowed on preseason, he’s fit and in form and shouldn’t take long to pick up the system Maresca is using and the demands on him specifically.

In that regard, the fact we don’t play a game until Monday night, and the fact that Chalobah is presumably still living in the same place as he was when he was at Chelsea should make things easier. He should be able to get a really few sessions in and be ready for a start against Wolves if needed.