Enzo Maresca responds to reports Chelsea star has been ‘banished from the first team’

Enzo Maresca claims Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher has been “in contact with the club to find a solution” about his future amid claims he’s been banished from training.

Reports earlier this week in The Sun claimed that Gallagher had been ‘banished from the first team’ with the England international ‘told in a meeting on a Friday that he will not be allowed in the first-team building nor train with Enzo Maresca’s squad when he reports for duty on Monday.’

Chelsea are keen to sell the player as soon as possible with ‘concerns over his ability to play the possession-based style of new boss Enzo Maresca and are reluctant to offer a long-term deal due to that.’

The report added:

‘Despite Gallagher captaining the side for the majority of last season, he is now viewed as only being a squad player should he stay at Stamford Bridge.

‘Therefore Chelsea do not view it as a sensible decision to commit to a long-term deal which could harm both club and player.’

Gallagher, who was linked heavily to Tottenham over the last couple of transfer windows , is currently attracting strong interest from Atletico Madrid .

And La Liga and Serie A insider Matteo Moretto gave an update yesterday on the deal with Atletico Madrid making an offer to Gallagher after striking an agreement with Chelsea.

Moretto wrote in his Caught Offside column : “As things stand, Atletico Madrid have already made an offer to Conor Gallagher, and they have already reached an agreement with Chelsea. They are just waiting on a response from Gallagher and his agents. The Chelsea midfielder is thinking over things carefully.

“He knows there is a lot of pressure from Chelsea to do the deal, because they do not want him to go to a competitor, and that the only side that have made an offer that has satisfied Chelsea’s demands is Atletico – so there is a lot of pressure to get the deal done.

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“But as I say, this could change rapidly, we still don’t have the green light from the player. We are still waiting, but I don’t think Atletico will hang around long for an answer either.

“With Gallagher, he knows that his time at Chelsea is most likely up. The matter is not so much whether he wants to go to Atletico or not, but he is weighing up the fact that in six months time, he could sign a deal with anybody, and potentially earn a good bit more money. The prospect of being a free agent is the main obstacle right now for Atletico.”

But Maresca refused to confirm or deny whether the rumours of Gallagher’s banishment were true on Friday.

Speaking from the tour of the United States, Maresca told reporters: “At the moment, there is not any update on that.

“The only thing I can say is that he was in contact with the club to find a solution. I don’t think it’s something new.

“In football, every summer, different clubs have some problems with some players, and then at the end, they find a solution and everyone is happy. Hopefully the same can happen in this situation.”