Pedro Neto is in contention to make his Chelsea debut in our Premier League opener against Manchester City, head coach Enzo Maresca has confirmed.
Our top-flight campaign gets under way on Sunday with a visit from the reigning champions. It is the most difficult of tests for Maresca to begin his tenure with, yet one he is relishing.
The Italian has spent the past six weeks on the training pitches at Cobham and in the United States working with his squad, and confirmed all but one of his players will be available for selection against Manchester City on Sunday.
‘We have just one injury, that is Reece James,' said Maresca in his first Premier League press conference at Cobham. 'The rest are fit and they will be available.’
With that in mind, our head coach discussed his hopes and plans of avoiding the kind of injury crisis that hampered our efforts last season.
‘It depends on the injury because sometimes, if it’s a kick, it’s not because training is no good, it’s an unlucky kick and you got injured. The only thing I can say, and I wasn’t here last year, is that in one month, we have had just one injury problem which is Reece.
'Unfortunately, he got an injury two or three minutes before we were going to change him, otherwise we would have avoided it. That can happen.
'Sometimes injuries can be because of different things, but we are managing the situation well.
'We managed players the other day against Inter, Christo didn’t start because he played so many minutes in pre-season and didn’t play many last year. Wesley didn’t play the game before so he can then start.’
That final pre-season match against Inter saw new signing Pedro Neto introduced to the Blues supporters at Stamford Bridge at half-time, and Maresca discussed the chances of our fans getting a first look of the Portuguese winger on the pitch in our Premier League opener.
'Pedro’s physical condition is good, the only thing is that he’s been here for just the last two or three days, so he will need to get used to the way we play,' added our head coach.
He is fit for sure but whether he starts for us or is on the bench, we will make that decision. But he is physically fit to be involved and he’s available.'
However, whoever gets the nod from the Italian against Man City, Maresca is pleased with the quality of player available throughout his squad.
‘One of the reasons why I accepted the move to Chelsea is because it’s one of the biggest clubs in the world, but also because the squad is very good.
'I had the opportunity to analyse it when I had the first contact with the club. The squad is full of talent and they are perfect for the way I like to play.
'This is one of the reasons why I am here because I’m convinced the players we have are very good and they can still improve. I am quite confident on that.’
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