FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Pre Season Friendly - Chelsea v Inter Milan - Stamford Bridge, London, Britain - August 11, 2024 Chelsea's Raheem Sterling in action Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Couldridge/File photo
(Reuters) - England internationals Raheem Sterling and Ben Chilwell are training apart from Chelsea's first team, manager Enzo Maresca said on Wednesday as British media reports linked them with moves away from the Premier League club.
Sterling and Chilwell, who missed Sunday's 2-0 Premier League loss to champions Manchester City, may struggle to get playing time if they choose to remain at Chelsea, Maresca said.
"In this moment, they are training apart," Maresca told reporters ahead of Thursday's Europa Conference League playoff tie against Swiss side Servette.
"We have a big squad, for me it's impossible to give everyone minutes. So if they're looking for minutes, probably it is better to leave."
Maresca said Sterling, who has played 59 league games for Chelsea since joining in 2022, was not the kind of winger he wanted.
"I'm not saying he's not a good player, but I prefer different kinds of wingers," the Italian said.
"I spoke with Raheem before Manchester City, I said that he is going to struggle to get minutes with us. With (Chilwell), I said he is a lovely guy but with his position, he's going to struggle with us. It's not brutal, it's honest."
"It's not a comfortable situation... I think it is good to know that if you want to stay, you will struggle to get minutes... but in a few days or weeks it can be a better situation because you move and you join a club where you will get more minutes," he added.
The manager said he did not meet Sterling after the match against City.
"In case I sit with Raheem I will tell him exactly the same things that I already told him," he said.
Maresca said captain Reece James will miss Thursday's match due to a hamstring injury.
"We try to win every game we play. Against Man City, I don't think the intention was to win the game, but we tried to win that game... and tomorrow is a game, that we will try to win, and hopefully we can win," he added.
(Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
