Enzo Maresca has revealed his joyous celebrations after Chelsea’s fourth goal against Gent were due to his happiness at seeing Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall open his account for the club.
Dewsbury-Hall signed for Chelsea in a £30m deal from Leicester City in the summer but has struggled for regular first-team football during the season’s opening weeks.
The 26-year-old has featured for just 44 minutes across three substitute appearances in the Premier League with most of his minutes coming in cup competition.
Dewsbury-Hall’s frustrating start to the campaign comes after a career-best season in 2023/24, where the midfielder inspired Maresca’s Leicester team to promotion to the Premier League.
Maresca has opened up on his celebration after the midfielder’s goal and said he was delighted after Dewsbury-Hall enjoyed a ‘needed’ moment in a Chelsea shirt.
“I know Kiernan very well from last year. I completely understand how difficult it is for Kiernan at this moment,” he said at his post-match press conference.
“I know when you are the main player and then move to a big club it’s not easy because you’re not the main player, and you’re on the bench or not in the squad.
“Sometimes you struggle a bit at the beginning, but he has to understand the reason he is here is because we want him, so I was very happy for him. The celebration was because I know he needed that.”
Chelsea secured a 4-2 win over Gent in their Europa Conference League opener, with Renato Veiga also scoring his first goal in Blue. Christopher Nkunku and Pedro Neto were also on target as Chelsea recorded a fifth consecutive win in all competitions.
Maresca pleased with Chelsea performance against Gent
“It was a good performance and overall I’m happy with the performance and the result,” Maresca said.
“It was a tough game and we approached it very well. Every game is complicated, it’s never easy. We changed players but you could still see the identity and the purpose of the team.
“For sure we can do many things better. The most important thing we can learn tonight is that even if we are 4-1 up, you have to switch on until the final whistle. You cannot switch off. We conceded the second goal because we saw the game was finished. If we want to be one step forward, even if it’s 4-1, we have to continue and not concede another goal.”
