Going against most pre-season expectations and predictions, Chelsea suddenly find themselves as potential title challengers following an excellent start to the season. Currently 2nd in the Premier League, Enzo Maresca is presently defying all odds by propelling the Blues to an unlikely Premier League title assault, in what could prove to be an excellent season for the Londoners.
Their recent transfer activity, so often criticised as gung-ho and completely over the top over the past few transfer windows, is suddenly paying dividends and the majority of players brought in for expensive sums are starting to justify their price tag. However, one summer transfer continues to struggle, and many Chelsea fans are questioning why he was signed in the first place – the £30million star, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
Maresca’s Main Man?
Chelsea signed the 26-year-old from Maresca’s old club, Leicester City, in the 2024 summer transfer window for a reported fee of around £30million. Chelsea and Leicester have a good relationship when it comes to player transfers, and Dewsbury-Hall would have been looking to follow in the footsteps of N’Golo Kanté and not Danny Drinkwater, when making the move to London.
As we approach the halfway point of the Premier League season however, Dewsbury-Hall has endured an underwhelming start to his career at Stamford Bridge, yet to make a start in the Premier League and only notching up around 55 minutes of action, all from the bench. With the likes of Moisés Caicedo, Enzo Fernández and Roméo Lavia all enjoying excellent seasons so far, how Dewsbury-Hall will make a significant contribution in the Premier League will likely be reliant on injuries and suspensions.
With so few minutes accumulated in the main league thus far, the question remains as to why Chelsea invested so heavily in the 26-year-old. Having enjoyed a stellar season under Maresca in the Championship for the Foxes last year, it was thought that Maresca spearheaded the signing with a view to making him an integral part of his Chelsea team.
However, that has proved far from the case, and Dewsbury-Hall has been confined to Chelsea’s ‘B Team’, appearing mostly in the Carabao Cup and the UEFA Conference League. Whilst his performances in these tournaments have been good, they have not yet been enough for him to make the move to the Premier League starting eleven.
A Move Back to the Midlands?
Rumours are now starting to circulate that Chelsea may allow Dewsbury-Hall to leave in the upcoming winter transfer window, with a potential loan move back to Leicester being touted as a potential solution. Whilst on paper, this would make sense and allow the Nottingham-born man to get more minutes under his belt, it does raise the question as to why Chelsea signed him to begin with.
Maresca has recently made comments suggesting that Dewsbury-Hall is struggling to adapt to being a member of the squad, instead of being one of the main men – as he was at Leicester. But when you are at a club like Chelesa, being a squad player was always going to be part of the deal.
Chelsea are unlikely to be able to recoup the majority of the significant fee they invested in Dewsbury-Hall, and a loan move will likely see Chelsea having to still pay a portion of his wages due to the significant contract he signed at Chelsea. Whilst the heavy number of fixtures over the festive period may provide Dewsbury-Hall with a few more opportunities in the Premier League, as Maresca continues to rotate his squad, he may need to look at a move away in order to rediscover his best form.