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Enzo Maresca has put his foot down ahead of the January transfer window, and one Chelsea player in particular now faces an uncertain future.
Tosin Adarabioyo suddenly faces an incredibly uncertain future at Chelsea. The 28-year-old defender was omitted from the Blues squad that took on AFC Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium, on Saturday afternoon, following his disappointing performance earlier in the week.
Tosin was at fault for two of the three goals in Chelsea's reverse to Leeds United at Elland Road on Wednesday night. First, the centre-back gifted Daniel Farke's side possession with a stray pass immediately before Ao Tanaka doubled the Whites' lead.
Then, towards the end of the second half, he was dispossessed inside the box. Noah Okafor tackled Tosin before diving into a 50-50 with Robert Sanchez; Dominic Calvert-Lewin latched on to the loose ball and tapped it in from close range.
Speaking with reporters after the game, Enzo Maresca didn't pull any punches. The Blues' boss ripped into Tosin - claiming that he regretted not playing Josh Acheampong instead.
"Listen, we always talk about experience when we drop points," said Maresca. "When we beat Barcelona, we drew against Arsenal, no one was mentioning about experienced players.
"So, again, I understand that when we don't win, we are always looking for the reason why, but I think the reason why we didn't win against Leeds is not because of the experience, it's because we were not good enough.
"But we have experienced players. Unfortunately, they weren't inside the pitch. One because he was suspended, the other one because of injury. So, it's because in that moment, the ones that have more experience, they were out."
Taking aim at Tosin, Maresca said: "Who is the oldest one for us in the pitch? Who was? Tosin. Did he play good? So, it's not about experience. It's about that 11 players, they were not good enough.
"I know that we are always looking for experience, but it was a bad game for all of us."
Maresca added: "One of the regrets I have after the game is I didn't play with Josh. So the reason why we played with Trev [Chalobah], Tosin and Benoit [Badiashile] is because analysing them, we saw that most of the time they were playing long ball for Calvert-Lewin, for [Lukas] Nmecha.
"And so we prefer physicality to win aerial duels. But even with that, we lost most of them..."
Tosin featured in training - as expected - in the build-up to the Bournemouth clash, but he was left at home. The defender was omitted entirely from the matchday squad, casting great doubt over his future at Stamford Bridge.
Prior to the goalless draw against the Cherries, Tosin had started three of Chelsea's last eight matches. The Blues conceded eight with him in the back-line, and just one in the other five.
He also made the error which led to Sunderland’s late winner earlier in the season. Tosin has two-and-a-half years or so left on his contract at Stamford Bridge and, having joined on a free in the summer of 2024, any sale would go down as profit on the club's books.
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