Ben Chilwell was expected to leave Chelsea this summer after falling down the pecking order, but he’s still at Stamford Bridge. Manchester United and Manchester City were linked, but no deal materialised before the transfer window shut.
The 27-year-old is out of favour under Enzo Maresca who said he should leave for more playing time. Maresca axed Chilwell from the first-team and has him training with the reserves, but the 27-year-old doesn’t want a transfer. Reports suggest Chilwell is happy where he is rather than rushing to find a new club.
Late European transfer windows provide an option for Chilwell
The English transfer window is shut, so Chilwell can’t join a domestic rival, but he can go abroad. Per Samuel Bannister of TEAMtalk, there are a host of countries that have an extended transfer window.
The Saudi Arabian window is already shut while the Hungarian window closes today (September 3). Netherlands, Portugal, Denmark, Norway, Bulgaria, Andorra, Malta, San Marino and Gibraltar have shut.
The Moldovan window closes tomorrow (September 4), and the Croatia and Austrian window closes on Friday (September 6). Belgium, Ukraine, Poland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovakia and North Macedonia close on Friday too.
- September 7: Slovenia, Liechtenstein,
- September 8: Czech
- September 9: Switzerland, Romania, Qatar, Cyprus
- September 10: Mexico
- September 11: Greece
- September 12: Russia and Armenia
- September 13: Turkey
- September 30: Egypt
There are plenty of destinations for Chilwell, but Pete O’Rourke of Football Insider says he’s ‘not rushing’. Chilwell is happy to bide his time as he’s earning a substantial amount at Chelsea. He wants his next move to be purposeful not last-minute. And rushing to find a new club before the transfer window shuts isn’t an attractive proposition for him.
Chilwell has no future at Chelsea with Marc Cucurella and Levi Colwill preferred at left-back, but he’ll be patient. Until the right project comes, Chilwell might run his contract down at Stamford Bridge. He takes home £200k-a-week in wages, which is more than £10m-a-year, so that may put some clubs off.
In other news, Enzo Maresca was unhappy after Chelsea’s 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace
