Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has encouraged Reggie Walsh to focus on his school work despite impressing in a Conference League semi-final.
On Thursday night, the Blues cruised over the line against Djurgardens IF, prevailing 1-0 at Stamford Bridge to earn a 5-1 aggregate success.
However, it was arguably 16-year-old Walsh who made the headlines after completing the 90 minutes in the game against the Swedish outfit.
Prior to his two outings across the last-four tie, he had accumulated 19 appearances for Chelsea Under-18s and only played 23 minutes for the Under-21s.
Nevertheless, Maresca has made it clear that he is a huge admirer of the starlet, who he feels is an ideal fit for his style of football.
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‘He must continue to study’
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Maresca spoke highly of Walsh, albeit insisting that he must turn his attention to completing his GCSEs in the short term.
As quoted by football.london, the Italian said: “What do you think, you like him? Good, eh? I like Reggie, I love Reggie because he’s that kind of player that, in my system, in the way I want to play, it’s perfect.
“You struggle to find players so young. He’s 16. And you see how I was asking for the ball, how good he is on the ball.
“Now, for sure, the most important thing for him is that he continues to study, he continues to go. I ask him now, tomorrow he has to go to school. It’s important for him, he has to continue on that. But for sure, he’s a good player.
“We finished with Reggie ’08 [born], Shimmy [Mheuka] and Genesis [Antwi] ’07, and Josh [Acheampong] and Tyrique [George] ’06. It’s second team, it’s not even first team, it’s second team.”
On how Walsh reacted to learning about his surprise start, Maresca added: “He was laughing. He was surprised also because of his personality. He was not worried at all, he was laughing.
“I told him you have to play in the same way that you do training session with us. Enjoy, ask for the ball, enjoy. And you can see that he was doing well.”
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What next for Chelsea?
Despite earning rave reviews for his performance on Thursday, it is highly likely that Walsh will miss out on the remaining three Premier League fixtures and the Conference League final against Real Betis.
Chelsea’s senior players are now focused on facing Newcastle United at St James’ Park on Sunday afternoon before completing their domestic campaign against Manchester United and Nottingham Forest.
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