Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has dismissed complaints from exiled first-team stars Raheem Sterling and Axel Disasi, saying they should try working as a fisherman like his father to understand genuine hardship. The pair have been relegated to a 'bomb squad' by the club after failing to secure summer transfers, and are training separately from the first team.
Sterling revealed on Instagram that he was training at 8pm, an unusual schedule for a father of four young children, prompting the Professional Footballers’ Association to step in. The union has worked with Chelsea to arrange more suitable lunchtime sessions with the under-21s.
Maresca, drawing on his own experience of being out of favour as a player, offered little sympathy. 'My father is 75 years old and for 50 years he has been a fisherman, working from two o’clock in the morning to 10 o’clock in the morning,' he said. 'This is sad in life – not a player and the way that they work.'
The Italian added that such treatment is standard across clubs worldwide. Sterling, who joined from Manchester City for £50 million in 2022, earns £325,000 a week and has two years left on his deal. Disasi, a £38.7 million signing from Monaco in 2023, is contracted until 2029.
Sterling's preferred permanent move to Fulham fell through over the summer, while loan interest from Napoli, Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich did not materialise. Disasi was keen on a return to France.
