Enzo Maresca 'lacks trust' in 19-year-old Chelsea forward after summer transfer decision

Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca allegedly has no trust in a fledgling Blues forward, hence his reluctance to use him in the early weeks of the 2025-26 season.

The West London giants - who entered the October international break on the back of an exceptional 2-1 Premier League win over Liverpool - reinforced their centre-forward ranks with the captures of Joao Pedro and Liam Delap over the summer.

While Pedro has hit the ground running at Chelsea with two goals and three assists from his first seven Premier League games, Delap sustained a serious hamstring injury in September and could potentially be missing until Christmas.

Following the news of Delap's layoff, Chelsea initially tried to cancel Nicolas Jackson's proposed loan move to Bayern Munich, but instead recalled Marc Guiu from his temporary spell at Sunderland.

However, the former Barcelona academy product has seldom been used by Maresca since his return to Stamford Bridge, only making his first Chelsea appearance of the season off the bench against Liverpool.

Maresca does not 'entirely trust' Chelsea's Guiu

Guiu has been an unused substitute in both of Chelsea's opening Champions League fixtures, and he also failed to make it off the bench in Premier League losses to Brighton & Hove Albion and Manchester United.

According to Daily Mail journalist Kieran Gill - speaking to Football Insider - Maresca seemingly lacks complete faith in Guiu to lead the line for the Club World Cup winners.

"Truthfully, we don’t know exactly why Marc Guiu hasn’t been used," Gill said. "Enzo Maresca has promised us that he will use him; that there are plenty of minutes for him coming.

"But then, he hasn’t been seen, at all, other than warming the bench [before the Liverpool game]. If they give him a single minute, he can’t then leave on loan in January, so I can only assume that’s a factor, plus Maresca doesn’t appear to entirely trust him as his striker."

Maresca 'lacks trust' in Guiu - what could happen with Chelsea forward?

Any judgement of Guiu is premature given that the striker is still only 19 and has not yet been given a proper chance to flourish in the Premier League, where he has played just six times in total.

However, the 2006-born striker flexed his goalscoring muscles during the 2024-25 Conference League, where he was one of the Blues' chief attacking forces in the group stage with a stellar six goals.

A hamstring injury cruelly robbed Guiu of the chance to contribute to the Blues' knockout games, though, and he was given just three minutes off the bench in the 4-1 final victory over Real Betis.

The ex-Barcelona striker will likely only be able to hope for EFL Cup and FA Cup starts in the coming months, and positive performances in those contests may give Maresca some food for thought.

The Blues boss has also not hesitated to use Tyrique George as an auxiliary centre-forward, though, so a move away in 2026 - either permanent or on loan - may be the best course of action for Guiu.