Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca says Jadon Sancho has to he ‘fit, mentally and physically’ and then he will ‘help the team a lot’ over the rest of the season.
The England international started on Thursday night in the Europa Conference League at Heidenheim, with the Blues leaving Germany with a 2-0 win.
Sancho provided an assist for Mykhailo Mudryk as he scored the second in the 86th minute and Maresca sounded very pleased with the 24-year-old.
The on-loan Manchester United man has started four Premier League games since moving to Stamford Bridge, but not since 20 October at Liverpool.
However, Maresca says that as long as he is in shape mentally and physically then he is a big part of his plans.
‘I said since we start, Jadon is very important for us,’ said the Italian on Thursday evening. ‘He has to be fit, mentally and physically and he is going to help us a lot.
‘Unfortunately we did not use him in the last few games but he is showing tonight how important he is. We need that quality in the last third against a low block. He is going to help us a lot.’
Maresca was complimentary of basically all his players, saying they will get more game time over a very busy December, including Christopher Nkunku who opened the scoring.
‘They did fantastic. I think all of them,’ he said. ‘Jadon Sancho did a very good game. Axel [Disasi] and Benoit [Badiashile]. Cesare [Casadei] did well. They are ready and it’s important. Filip [Jorgensen] did a very good game, Christo [Nkunku] the same. We have nine or 10 games in December so they are going to get more chances. They need to be ready.’
On Mudryk he added: ‘He’s one of the players I just mentioned. It’s difficult to find players tonight that didn’t play well.
‘We need all of them taking the chances when they get the chances. They all want to play more; they all deserve to play and are working fantastic. We are going to share minutes in the next games because we have so many games and it’s the normal thing to do.’
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