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Former Chelsea defender Wayne Bridge has urged the Blues to keep Ben Chilwell amid reported interest from Manchester United. He believes that the Englishman is a "great" left-back and there aren't many options available for the position in the transfer market.
Speaking to Betdred, Bridge stated that Chilwell's fitness remains his main concern about the Englishman. However, if the former Leicester City star can remain fit, Bridge believes he should get a chance under Enzo Maresca. He said (via Metro):
"I'd look to keep him, but he just has to stay fit. He's missed a lot of games for Chelsea but if he can stay fit, then I don't know why you'd want to get rid of him, unless there's something going on in the background that we don't know about. I just believe that Ben has a lot of ability and is capable of proving himself, as long as he stays fit."
"He's going to have to prove himself if the manager is uncertain about him, but a manager's head can be turned by a player rather than them being stubborn enough to just force someone out. If Ben does well, then he's still got a chance of remaining at Chelsea. There's not an abundance of left-backs out there and Ben's a great one," he added.
The Blues signed Ben Chilwell from Leicester City in 2020, but he has missed a lot of matches due to injury, including 35 in the 2023-24 season.
Manchester United are looking to sign a left-back and have been linked with the Englishman as cover for Luke Shaw.
Wayne Bridge wants Chelsea to keep Ben Chilwell over Marc Cucurella
Wayne Bridge believes Ben Chilwell is more suited to Chelsea and should be kept at the club. He claimed that if the club had to pick between the Englishman and Marc Cucurella, they should opt for the former. He said:
"I think so, yeah. Marc [Cucurella] did really well at Brighton, he's done okay for Spain, but it hasn't really worked out for him at Chelsea really. It's hard, when you move clubs, to continue playing as well as you have been. You can play in different formations and you're playing with different players. Just because you've done really well for one club doesn't mean that you're going to automatically click within another. It doesn't always go that way. If the decision was mine, out of the two I'd be keeping Ben Chilwell."
Marc Cucurella has been impressive at EURO 2024 and helped Spain reach the final. Ben Chilwell has just recovered from his injury and is training at Cobham.
