Frank Leboeuf has sided with Chelsea outcasts Raheem Sterling and Axel Disasi in the wake of stinging criticism from Enzo Maresca.
The Professional Footballers’ Association has contacted the club over the conditions the pair are working under this season after they were made surplus to requirements and isolated from the first team.
Neither was able to secure a move away from Stamford Bridge during the transfer window despite efforts being made to set up deals.
Maresca has not seen or spoken to either player this season and both have been kept entirely separate from the team, training and eating alone and at different times to the rest of the squad.
Sterling, who had an unsuccessful loan at Arsenal last season, still has two years to run on the £325,000-per-week deal he signed in 2022, whilst Disasi is under contract until 2029. He spent the second half of last season on loan at Aston Villa.
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‘My father is 75 years old, and for 50 years he has been a fisherman working from two o’clock in the morning until 10 o’clock in the morning,’ said Maresca. ‘This is sad in life. Not here the way (Sterling and Disasi) work.
‘I’ve been in Raheem’s situation and Axel’s situation as a player. I know that it’s not the best feeling, because if you’re a player it means you want to train and play.
‘But for different reasons, the situation is what it is in this moment. I know that the club is giving them the opportunity to work in the right way, and this is the only thing I can say.’
Former Chelsea defender Leboeuf, however, refused to condone the actions of his former club having experienced the loneliness of being exiled during an unhappy spell with Marseille during the late stages of his playing career.
He told ESPN FC: ‘He’s (Maresca) right first of all in it’s many clubs, not just Chelsea in that situation.
‘I have known that when I was playing for Marseille so like four or five players being in what we used to call the cupboard. You are there and stuck and you don’t even train with the first team. That’s not normal, that’s not fair.
‘For Disasi and Sterling they signed a contract so the club at the time wanted them and now they’ve been rejected while they are still under contract. It shouldn’t be allowed to work that way, it shouldn’t be allowed that clubs have so many players that they have to reject some that they decided to sign.
‘I cannot agree with what Maresca said and again it’s not only about Chelsea. We are talking about human beings and mental health. The fact you have a dignity. We are talking about international players with Raheem Sterling and Axel Disasi.
‘If you don’t want them you make sure you find them a club or they are allowed to train with the first team. That should be your punishment as a club. You decided to sign them, they didn’t come randomly. I’m going to defend the players and I will do so until my last breath.’
