The reason Enzo Maresca forced a Chelsea forward to play as a defensive midfielder in training

Well, this is a bit of a wild one this morning. But apparently Enzo Maresca forced a Chelsea forward to play as a defensive midfielder.

Maresca has had an incredible couple of months as Chelsea manager – qualifying for next seasons Champions League, winning the Conference League, and now reaching the final of the Club World Cup tonight. But it has not been plain sailing for him by any means.

There has been a number of big decisions that Maresca has needed to make during his time as Chelsea boss, and one player who he has not always given regular chances to is forward Christopher Nkunku.

The French striker’s future remains up in the air, but he has been given more of a regular starting role under Maresca in the Club World Cup this month. So it does make you wonder what is next.

Nkunku could still head to Bayern

Bayern Munich have been linked to Nkunku for some time now and could still head there. They seem to want to bring him still but I think it is the asking price of Chelsea that has been putting them off so far.

Christopher Nkunku celebrates a goal. (Photo by Buda Mendes/Getty Images)

The latest update on Nkunku suggests that Bayern are still into him but are only monitoring the situation for now.

Maresca has been playing him as a DM!

Yep, you read that right!

According to L’Equipe in France this weekend, on more than one occasion, Maresca forced Nkunku to feature as a defensive midfielder during training sessions with Chelsea.

But why did he do that?

The publication says that it was perhaps as a way of testing his strength of character.

An interesting story and some interesting reasoning for this happening, if it did of course happen at all.