Manchester United have decided against making a move for Chelsea's Ben Chilwell.
The Blues' Champions League winner has been made available for sale by the west London side after Enzo Maresca decided last season's vice-captain was not part of his plans. Chelsea's new boss has instead favoured Marc Cucurella and new signing Renato Veiga as his options to head into the 2024/25 campaign.
That has left Chilwell training away from the first team, in addition to a number of other players including Raheem Sterling. The Stamford Bridge stars have been the subject of conversations with the possibilty of a deal being made with Manchester United before the end of the transfer window.
United's depth on the left side of defence has already been tested in August with Luke Shaw being ruled out by a pre-season injury. Lisandro Martinez and Diogo Dalot having featured in the position in the opening Premier League matches.
The Independent reports that United have decided to excuse themselves from any move for Chilwell, with the figures involved in such a deal proving off-putting. Chelsea had offered their 27-year-old defender to United as executives debated the possibility of finding solutions for Chilwell, Sterling and Jadon Sancho.
Former Leicester star Chilwell is now running out of time to find a club before the closure of the transfer window. Maresca made it clear ahead of the Premier League season that his charge did not have a position in his system
"With Chilly it's quite clear," said Maresca. "I love the way he trains, I love the way he is but the problem is that he struggles with us a little bit to find his best position.
"When you train everyday and you don't get minutes, it's not good for them and it's not good for me because I need to make decisions. For some players, it's sometimes better to leave and to go somewhere to get minutes. We will see what happens, the transfer window is open and we will see what happens."
A move to Old Trafford may have been appealing to Chilwell, who has fond memories of visiting Old Trafford as a child. "I used to go to Man United games, funnily enough, with my dad, who supported them," he said last year.
"The first one, I can’t remember who it was against, but it was a Man United game. We always used to go to the Champions League ones after school, so it would have been a Champions League game at Old Trafford. That’s the first one I remember. Having your first one in the Champions League is pretty good.
"We used to go by train, we would have to take about four different trains straight from school, and just about make it for kick-off, then get about four different trains on the way home as well, get home for one o’clock in the morning, straight into school the next morning again, but they were brilliant memories."
Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
Sky has slashed the price of its Sky Sports, Sky Stream, Sky TV and Netflix bundle in an unbeatable new deal that saves £240 and includes 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.