Moises Caicedo's Ecuador absence offers Enzo Maresca rare Chelsea chance | OneFootball

Moises Caicedo has been left out of Ecuador's latest squad, allowing Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca to manage the midfielder's workload during the international break.

Caicedo is undoubtedly an important piece to Chelsea's plans this season.

The midfielder simply has a lot to offer to the team that Chelsea cannot replace with anyone else in the team.

This is indicated by the fact that Caicedo has played more minutes than any other Chelsea player in the Premier League this season.

It is therefore not a surprise that after such a busy month, Ecuador head coach Sebastian Beccacece has not included Caicedo in his squad for the friendly fixtures against the USA and Mexico.

The communication between Beccacece and Maresca almost certainly played a part in this decision.

IMAGO / Xinhua

"Regarding Moises, his coach (Maresca at Chelsea) said that he is injured," the Ecuador boss told reporters last week.

"He is not well, but he is so ambitious and committed that he always wants to be like he was against Argentina.

"We are reconsidering whether he will be part of the squad, but I would say no more than yes."

Obviously, Caicedo was not injured, considering he had a goalscoring performance against Liverpool last Saturday, but it was clear that Maresca would prefer his midfielder to skip this particular international break.

IMAGO / Action Plus

Maresca recently named Caicedo as one of the three Chelsea players that the club must "protect" due to their high workload as key players, alongside Cole Palmer and Joao Pedro.

In addition to possible injury risks, the South American players usually have to travel long distances for international duty, and as a result, often miss a few training sessions after the break.

There will be only two South American Chelsea players who will be reporting for international duty: Argentina's Enzo Fernandez and Brazil's Estevao.

Argentina will play two friendly matches against Venezuela and Puerto Rico in the USA, while Brazil will travel to Asia to play against South Korea and Japan.