Ben Chilwell has barely played for Chelsea over the past two years due to injury.

The 27-year-old signed for Chelsea from Leicester City in 2020, but has only made 70 Premier League appearances over those four seasons.

As for last season, Chilwell made just 13 appearances, and was out for most of the campaign.

Enzo Maresca has said he does like the Chelsea left-back, but has subtly told him to leave Chelsea in search of minutes.

“Chilly is with us but he has not been training for the last few days because he has been ill,” said the Blues boss.

“The reason he did not play [in a pre-season friendly] versus Inter was because, with Chilly it is quite clear, even though I love the way he is, the problem is, he is struggling a bit to find the right position.

“This morning we had 22 players training and if you ask all of them they will say they want to play against City on Sunday. But that is impossible. When you train every day and do not get any minutes it is not good for them or for me.

“I need to make a decision and probably it is better to leave and go and get minutes. The transfer window is open so we’ll see what happens.”

Marc Cucurella has been solid and available since the final phase of last season, and had an extraordinary Euro 2024. He’s expected to be first choice at left-back.