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Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca faced probing questions over his treatment of Raheem Sterling and Axel Disasi during a press conference on Friday.
Both players have been frozen out by Maresca, who has made it clear they are not in his plans. Sterling and Disasi were made available for transfer during the summer window, but moves did not materialize for either man, leaving them in limbo.
Sterling has just under two years remaining on a contract worth more than $400,000 per week, while Disasi is contracted to the Blues until 2029.
The Professional Footballers' Association began talks with Chelsea earlier this week in a bid to find a solution to the situation, and Maresca was asked about his treatment of both players prior to his team's trip to Manchester United this weekend.
Maresca, who has assigned Sterling and Disasi specific training times and isolated them from the first-team squad, responded with little sympathy.
He said: "I've been in Raheem's situation and Axel's situation as a player and for sure, I know that it's not the best feeling for a player because if you are a player, that means that you want to train and play games. The situation is the situation.
"I know that the club is giving them the opportunity to work in the right way. I know it's something that you like and you want to talk about, but it's not just Chelsea, it's any club in the world.
"I can promise you, Italy, Spain, England, France, USA, Brazil, any club in the world, when for any reason the player and the club doesn't find a solution and you give the player all the tools to do training sessions and to do everything, but if you are not involved in the squad you are not involved in the squad.
"It's not about Chelsea, it's about any club in the world."
The quote that has picked up the most traction on social media, though, was this one: "My father was fisherman. Going to work from 2am to 10am every day for 50 years. This is hard in life, not being a football player."
Maresca's approach is a far cry from the one Arne Slot took last season as he managed Federico Chiesa amid his struggles at Liverpool.
Chiesa was clearly not giving Slot what he would have hoped for when the Reds signed him from Juventus in the summer of 2024, but despite that, Slot took a caring approach, keeping him involved with the first team and insisting his time would come.
The Italian has been a positive figure ever since he joined Liverpool — despite his limited game time — and Slot's treatment of him has no doubt contributed to that.
The difference in both situations shows that the Dutchman is a class apart from Maresca, regarding both on and off-field matters.
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