Chelsea respond as Man City join race to sign Enzo Maresca favourite

Manchester City are among a number of Premier League clubs reportedly interested in signing one of Enzo Maresca’s favourite Chelsea stars.

Chelsea have gone into the 2025/26 season as one of the favourites for the Premier League title following their Club World Cup triumph in the summer.

But they haven’t got off to the best of starts, being held to a goalless draw by Crystal Palace in their opening game on Sunday, with the Eagles arguably the better side at Stamford Bridge.

While they have spent another £241million on new signings, Maresca is dealing with an injury crisis in defence, with Levi Colwill expected to miss the majority of the season due to a serious ACL injury, while Tosin Adarabioyo is also sidelined.

Trevoh Chalobah and teenager Josh Acheampong started against Palace, with the latter impressively holding his own against Eberechi Eze and Jean-Philippe Mateta.

This was only the 19-year-old’s third Premier League start but the centre-back, who can also play right-back, is quickly becoming a fan-favourite and has even caught the eye of Chelsea’s rivals.

Acheampong was targeted by Real Madrid last year before he penned a five-year contract with the Blues, while Maresca confirmed over the summer that Borussia Dortmund and Newcastle had made enquiries over the defender.

Now, according to The Guardian, Man City rate the player very highly but are yet to make a formal move, while Palace, Bournemouth and West Ham also keen on the England U20 star.

It is said that Chelsea have already rejected a loan offer from Bournemouth and are expected to rebuff any other transfer approaches before deadline day on September 1.

It is perhaps no surprise to see the Blues adopt this stance given how much Maresca has praised the youngster over the past year, even admitting in April that he had ‘fallen in love’ with the player.

Speaking after the draw with Palace, the head coach said: ‘Josh was very good. We showed our confidence in Josh last year as he played some games for us.

‘Today he did very well, he dealt with Mateta very well, so overall he had a good game.’

Acheampong made 13 senior appearances last season, helping Chelsea win the Club World Cup and Conference League.

It is not known whether he would be interested in leaving Stamford Bridge but no doubt he will want guarantees over playing time, something that Chelsea should be able to offer given their defensive injuries.

In addition to Colwill and Tosin, Benoit Badiashile is also sidelined and while Wesley Fofana was on the bench on Sunday, his fitness is always a concern.

‘He [Tosin] had a physical problem, we don’t know for how long,’ Maresca added.

‘Wes was on the bench, but he was just on the bench to be with us. The plan was not to get any minutes. And now, hopefully for the next one, we can start to use Wes for more minutes.’

For more stories like this, check our sport page.

Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.