Enzo Maresca provided a clear update on the situation surrounding Christopher Nkunku and Nicolas Jackson ahead of the transfer deadline and Friday’s trip to West Ham. The Chelsea manager said both forwards have slipped down the pecking order following the arrivals of Jo\u00e3o Pedro and Liam Delap at Stamford Bridge, and he confirmed neither will be involved at the London Stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n“He is available but he is not going to be part of the squad ,”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\n“We know that something can happen before the transfer window closes.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\n“Christo is with us, like Nico. But it’s the same answer.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Maresca also addressed the club’s centre-back plans after Levi Colwill suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury earlier this month. There had been speculation about a return to the market for defensive cover, but the manager indicated his priority is to find solutions from within the squad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I already said, that we are already looking for internal solutions,” Maresca added. “I showed that last game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We will see. We are trying, as I said, to find solutions. I repeat. We are looking for internal solutions. We will what happens.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The manager confirmed there remains time for transfers before the September 1 deadline, but stressed the club are focused on internal resources for the centre-back position. Maresca also offered a positive update on Tosin Adarabioyo. A minor issue kept him out of the season opener against Crystal Palace last weekend, but he is fit and back in contention for the match against West Ham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The manager\u2019s remarks frame the club\u2019s immediate priorities: manage squad balance after recent arrivals, consider possible moves before the window closes, and cope with Colwill\u2019s long-term absence using the existing squad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Maresca confirms Nkunku and Jackson omitted from West Ham squad; Colwill recovery forces internal options.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1915,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190],"tags":[597,59,407],"class_list":["post-1916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea","tag-christopher-nkunku","tag-featured","tag-nicolas-jackson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1916"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1918,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1916\/revisions\/1918"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}