Chelsea defender Ben Chilwell has revealed that he has ‘complete respect’ for the decisions made by Enzo Maresca earlier in the season.
Having made just two appearances during pre-season, it quickly became apparent that Chilwell was not in the plans of the Italian for 2024-25.
As was the case with several unwanted players, the 28-year-old was banished from first-team training for a period until it materialised that he would not secure a transfer away from Stamford Bridge until January at the earliest.
Just one 45-minute outing against Barrow in the EFL Cup would be made during the first half of the campaign before the England international was allowed to kick-start his career on loan at Crystal Palace.
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Chilwell suggest professional approach to exile
Speaking in an interview with ITV Sport, Chilwell admitted that he had to show a level of patience and professionalism behind the scenes in order to give himself the best chance of succeeding at Selhurst Park.
Chilwell said: “I was training by myself a lot of the days. You’re not involved in the matchday squads and you kind of just wait for the opportunity for when you’re going to go somewhere. If you go somewhere in January and you’re miles off the pace, you’ve got to put the work in. The only person who is losing out is you.
“Training by yourself a lot for a number of months isn’t easy but I think the only thing that was keeping me going was I knew I was going to go somewhere, whether that was January or the end of the season. These past four or five months has given me the opportunity to to mentally and physically realign, refocus and reset to go again.
“There were a lot of circumstances at Chelsea that were not in my control, which I completely respect but the things I could control was how I came into training every day and how I trained, whether it was by myself or with the group. And that is a reflection on myself.”
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How has Chilwell fared?
Such has been Palace’s improvement over the past two months that Chilwell has struggled to earn regular game time under Oliver Glasner.
A total of 50 minutes have been accumulated during three substitute outings in the Premier League, but more action has come in the FA Cup.
As well as a 45-minute appearance versus Doncaster Rovers in the fourth round, Chilwell played the full 90 minutes against Millwall in the last 16.
Chilwell will now hope to make his second Eagles start when they square off against Fulham in the quarter-finals on Saturday.
With Tyrick Mitchell expected to get the nod in the Premier League encounter at Southampton on Wednesday, Chilwell is seemingly in line to feature at Craven Cottage.
