Chelsea: Enzo Maresca delivers midfielder transfer update after Enzo Fernandez and Romeo Lavia injuries | OneFootball

Blues boss is unsure how much time key duo will miss, with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall starting against Wolves

Enzo Maresca insists that Chelsea’s current injury problems in midfield will not affect the Stamford Bridge future of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

And asked if the injuries to Fernandez and Lavia would impact the 26-year-old’s position at the club this month amid rumoured interest from the likes of Leicester, West Ham and Everton, Maresca said afterwards: “No. We are not going to take a decision on Kiernan because of Romeo and Enzo. They are injured, absolutely.

“I said already, a few days ago or weeks ago, that the intention is to keep Kiernan but then because we are in January anything can happen.”

Maresca - whose side travel to face Manchester City on Saturday evening - confirmed that Lavia’s injury was worse than that of Fernandez, with Chelsea needing to wait a little longer to determine how long the duo will miss and if they are suffering from muscle problems or muscle fatigue after last week’s dramatic 2-2 draw with Bournemouth.

“Romeo is more important than Enzo,” he said. “We don't know yet how long they are going to be out. Hopefully not too long.

“Muscle fatigue or muscle problem. We need to wait a little bit.

“Both were against Bournemouth. The Romeo one was the yellow card, I don't know if you remember the yellow card. Enzo, against Bournemouth, was 92 or 93 minutes, just the last minutes of the game.”

Maresca also insisted that the decision to omit Renato Veiga from the matchday squad against Wolves was not due to transfer speculation amid reports that both Juventus and Borussia Dortmund have been in talks over a deal for the versatile Portugal international.

Veiga joined the likes of Ben Chilwell, Cesare Casadei and Carney Chukwuemeka in not being involved on Monday night, though another player strongly linked with a move away from Chelsea before the deadline - defender Axel Disasi - came on as a late substitute.

“It's because of a technical decision,” Maresca said of Veiga’s omission. “We prefer, for instance, Ty [Tyrique George] or Jadon [Sancho] as a winger on the bench if we need to change both and then we changed both. The reason why was just for that.”