{"id":661225,"date":"2025-11-04T11:19:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T16:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=661225"},"modified":"2025-11-04T11:19:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T16:19:16","slug":"enzo-maresca-timeline-world-class-centre-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2025\/11\/04\/enzo-maresca-timeline-world-class-centre-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Enzo Maresca Offers Return Timeline For ‘World-Class Centre-Back’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Enzo Maresca spoke to the media before his midweek Champions League trip to Qarabag. While he was asked about some of the usual names and updated us on Pedro Neto, the most interesting tidbit was the return date given for one of the team’s standout defenders. Defensive options have been light so far this term, particularly left-footed ones with Trevoh Chalobah and others forced to play on the left of the back line and build up unnaturally with his weaker foot. With his latest press conference, the manager offered some hope for fans.<\/p>\n

Top Chelsea Defender Set to Be Back After International Break<\/h2>\n

Other Updates<\/h3>\n

The manager was, of course, asked about the status of one Cole Palmer but remained vague, just noting that he’d love to have the Englishman available. He also discussed injured midfielder Dario Essugo and provided the negative response that the youngster will be absent until around the new year, either late December or early January.<\/p>\n

Read More:\u00a0<\/strong>What Actually Is Chelsea’s Best XI<\/a><\/p>\n

Portuguese winger Neto was ruled out of the Qarabag trip, the hard-working attacker came off late at the weekend. He was only clarified to be missing the Champions League match and so, could be back in time for Premier League Action.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Return Date Given For Centre-Back<\/h3>\n

The most notable moment of the conference was an update given on a “world-class centre-back<\/a>” when the manager confirmed that French defender Benoit Badiashile will be back after the upcoming international break. The former Monaco man will be available for the busy December period where squad depth is put to the test.<\/p>\n

Read More:\u00a0<\/strong>Every Chelsea Wonderkid in Football Manager 26 Ranked<\/a><\/p>\n

In his limited appearances in this campaign, the Frenchman has impressed on the left side of the defensive line. He’s shown a capability to play passes out from the back and defend high, aiding his side in recycling possession. He was unfortunately hurt after a stellar outing against Liverpool but is on the mend and ready to help the Blues compete on all fronts soon.<\/p>\n

Featured Image Credits<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Chelsea
IMAGO \/ Sportimage
London, England, 20th January 2025. Enzo Maresca, head coach of Chelsea during the Premier League match at Stamford Bridge, London. Picture credit should read: Paul Terry \/ Sportimage EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorised audio, video, data, fixture lists, club\/league logos or live services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club\/league\/player publications. SPI_108_PT_Chelsea_Wolves SPI-3610-0108<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Enzo Maresca spoke to the media before his midweek Champions League trip to Qarabag. While he was asked about some of the usual names and updated us on Pedro Neto, the most interesting tidbit was the return date given for one of the team’s standout defenders. Defensive options have been light so far this term, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2013,"featured_media":651056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-661225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-chelsea"],"modified_by":"Alex Richards, LWOF Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2013"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661225"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":661228,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661225\/revisions\/661228"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}