Enzo Maresca says Chelsea have yet to make a decision over whether to recall midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu from his loan spell at Southampton next month.
Ugochuku joined Southampton, who Chelsea play at St Mary’s Stadium on Wednesday night, on a season-long loan in August.
But the 20-year-old has started just two Premier League games since then and played just 425 minutes in all competitions overall.
Southampton coach Russell Martin left him out of the squad altogether for their last game against Brighton & Hove Albion on Friday and Ugochukwu responded by deleting mentions of Southampton from his social media accounts (although they seem to have been restored now).
But when asked if Chelsea will trigger a break clause in the loan agreement when the window opens next month, Maresca said: “I have no idea at the moment, no idea about loans or transfers. Before January we have seven Premier League games, there are too many matches to be thinking about that.”
Chelsea agreed to send Ugochukwu, who has made 15 appearances for them since joining from Rennes for around £23.5m last year, to Southampton in order for him to get more first-team football this season.
Chelsea will be without Reece James and Wesley Fofana (both hamstring) for the Southampton game on Wednesday night. Southampton will be missing Tyler Dibling, Flynn Downes and Taylor Harwood-Bellis due to suspension, while Aaron Ramsdale, Will Smallbone, Adam Lallana, Jan Bednarek and Ross Stewart are injured.
(Matt McNulty/Getty Images)
