Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has defended how he and the club have handled the ongoing situations involving Ben Chilwell and Raheem Sterling.
Blues owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital have embarked on yet another spending spree this summer, ignoring the amount of players that are being accumulated at Stamford Bridge.
In excess of 40 players are currently training at their Cobham training facilities, approximately 15 of them away from the senior squad having been made available for transfer.
Chilwell and Sterling - each of whom are experienced England internationals - feature among the latter group having been told by Maresca that they will struggle for game time this season.
As such, the West Londoners are open to offers for both players, although it is far from certain that either of the pair will be sold or loaned out in due course.
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Maresca gives update on situation
Maresca has been forced to field numerous questions regarding the pair over the past week and that continued at a press conference ahead of Thursday's Europa Conference League tie against Servette.
Neither player has been selected for the showdown with the Swiss outfit, and the Italian was peppered with numerous questions during the media briefing.
He initially said: "They are training apart. As I said, the situation is quite clear and there is not any update on the situation.
"They are Chelsea players. Until they aren't Chelsea players. But it's not possible to give them all minutes. Those who want minutes, they are better off to leave."
When asked about the respective interactions, Maresca added: "I try to be honest. I spoke with Raheem before the City game. I said he's going to struggle to get minutes with us and this is the reason.
"With Chilly, he is a lovely guy but he will struggle. If you define this as brutal, it's up to you to decide. For me, it's not brutal, it's just honest."
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Door still left open
Despite being authoritative with the way that he has communicated with the duo, Maresca suggested that he would keep an open mind regarding their possible reintegration until the end of the transfer window.
"We'll see," he said. "Now is a bit early. We have 10 days for the transfer window. Many things can happen in the last week, the last 10 days."
Premier League and foreign options could each materialise in due course, although any interested clubs will realistically have to cover the bulk of their lucrative wages as a bare minimum.
Darren Plant
