Chelsea accused of making £30m transfer 'mistake'

Today at 02:32 AM

Enzo Maresca has been accused of making a £30m transfer ‘mistake’ during his first transfer window in charge of Chelsea.

Maresca left his job at Championship winners Leicester City to take over at Stamford Bridge last summer following Mauricio Pochettino’s departure.

The Italian welcomed a number of new signings to the club, including the likes of Jadon Sancho, Pedro Neto and Joao Felix.

Some of Chelsea’s summer signings are thriving but others, like Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, have struggled for minutes and been urged to leave the club after just six months.

Chelsea signed the 26-year-old from Maresca’s former club Leicester for £30m but he has barely featured for the Blues since putting pen to paper on a six-year deal.

Dewsbury-Hall starred in Leicester’s title-winning team – scoring 12 goals and providing a further 12 assists last season to be named the club’s player of the season and players’ player of the season.

The Leicester academy graduate hoped to continue to impress in west London but has been restricted to just one Premier League start.

Given his lack of minutes, Dewsbury-Hall has been linked with a move away from Chelsea during the January transfer window and William Gallas insists it was a mistake to sign him in the first place.

‘Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall made a rare start against Wolves and got an assist, but you'd have to say that signing him was a mistake for Chelsea,’ the ex-Blues defender told Spin Genie.

‘He cost £30m and has mostly been sitting on the bench or out of the squad completely, you can't really see him getting a run of starts in the Premier League at the moment.

‘He was probably very happy at Leicester and thought he could make an impact at Chelsea but it hasn't really happened, maybe at some point he will look to leave.’

New West Ham boss Graham Potter has expressed interest in signing Dewsbury-Hall, who has scored two goals since joining Chelsea last summer.

Ex-Chelsea winger Pat Nevin also believes the playmaker should leave Stamford Bridge as he is being ‘wasted’ at Chelsea.

‘It's a real shame to see what has happened to Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and it's quite strange,’ Nevin told Grosvenor Sport. ‘He is a quality player and hasn't been able to show that.

‘The problem is that he cannot leave it too long sitting out of first-team football because it's only a short career and it's being wasted. I'd love to see him playing more often but who could be dropped at Chelsea?

‘Dewsbury-Hall needs to be playing football, full-stop. If I was him I'd push to go out on loan, whether that be West Ham or somewhere else.’

Dewsbury-Hall will hope for more minutes on Sunday when Chelsea travel to the Etihad Stadium to face struggling Premier League champions Manchester City.

Chelsea failed to win five league games in a row over the festive period to slip to fourth in the table but at least returned to winning ways on Monday night with a 3-1 victory over Wolves.

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