‘In This Moment’—Enzo Maresca Explains Limited Use of Andrey Santos at Club World Cup | OneFootball

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has insisted midfielder Andrey Santos still needs time to get used to the team’s style of play following his return from loan.

Santos enjoyed a sensational spell with Strasbourg and earned himself a spot in Chelsea’s Club World Cup squad as a result, but he has been offered just 22 minutes off the bench so far this summer, sparking a wave of speculation about his future.

While still under contract until 2030, a number of clubs across Europe are known to be watching Santos with a keen eye, but Chelsea are not entertaining offers.

The spotlight is firmly on Maresca and his use of the Brazil international, with the Chelsea boss forced to explain his reasoning behind the limited game time.

“Andrey is working with us, he’s working well,” Maresca said. “He worked already with us last summer in the pre-season, so we know Andrey a little bit.

“His season has been very good, but I think you need time to adapt. The important thing is that he’s working well. And then in terms of position, I see Andrey in this moment more like Enzo [Fernández]’s position than Moisés [Caicedo] or Roméo [Lavia]’s position.

Santos made his debut against ES Tunis. / IMAGO/Eibner

“And the reason why is because we are here in this moment for this tournament, but we also need to plan for next season, which is the Premier League. And you know that in the Premier League, first of all, you need to be physically strong, because the Premier League demands to be physically strong. So in this moment, I see Andrey as a more attacking midfielder than a defensive midfielder.”

Getting minutes ahead of Enzo Fernández is proving to be a challenge for Santos and Maresca was eager to heap praise on the Argentina international ahead of his reunion with Benfica in the Club World Cup last 16 on Saturday.

“Very pleased with Enzo, especially because, first of all, he’s a nice boy, he’s polite, he’s a good boy,” Maresca continued. “And then because with us, since we started, he’s working very well in all the aspects, inside the pitch, outside the pitch.

“We said already many times that with us, this season’s struggle will be at the beginning to understand the way we want to play. But then he’s doing fantastic, also in terms of numbers, goals, assists. And this is what we want from our attacking players.

“I said many times that I prefer to have the attacking players score 10, 12 goals each than just a striker with 40 goals. And Enzo, his contribution this season has been top, and for sure next season will be even better.”

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