Enzo Maresca has confirmed that strengthening the defence is his top priority following Levi Colwill’s recent ACL surgery.
The young defender, who played an important role for Chelsea last season and during the Club World Cup, faces a long recovery and is expected to miss most of the upcoming campaign after sustaining the injury during training earlier this week.
Despite Chelsea already investing over £200million in new signings this summer, Maresca indicated the club is likely to return to the transfer market to reinforce their defensive options in Colwill’s absence.
“It is a priority for me,” Maresca told Channel 5.
“Levi is a fantastic player. What we achieved last season is because of him. He played a lot of games with me, I love him. We are going to miss him.
“We are trying also to find different solutions.”
Maresca made these comments after Chelsea’s first pre-season friendly back at Stamford Bridge, where the Blues secured a comfortable 2-0 victory against Bayer Leverkusen despite having resumed training only four days prior.
Reflecting on the performance, Maresca said: “[I am] very happy with the performance, especially after just four days training. It is good to start again.”
One of the standout players was Brazilian youngster Estevao, who scored alongside Joao Pedro and impressed on his debut, staking a claim for a regular spot when the Premier League season kicks off.
“He is very young, very, very young. He needs to adapt, he needs to play. I said yesterday he is going to help because he is a fantastic player,” Maresca added about the promising talent.
With Chelsea bolstering their attacking ranks significantly this summer, Maresca acknowledged that not all players will be satisfied with playing time, given the competition for places.
“Not all of them will be happy always, because if they don’t play, they are not happy.
“They have to understand they are all good, 22, 23, 24 players, and they have to understand there will be many rotations.”
