Ian Maatsen wants to earn his place at Chelsea after impressing for Burnley last season.
Burnley have tried to bring Ian Maatsen back to Turf Moor this summer, but after scoring a brace for Chelsea in a pre-season friendly, the youngster has expressed his desire to remain at Stamford Bridge and fight for a place in Mauricio Pochettino’s side.
Chelsea cruised to a 5-0 victory against Wrexham on Wednesday night. Maatsen was amongst the scorers, netting twice in the first half. The Dutch defender is unsurprisingly full of confidence following his brilliant form for Burnley last season, and it showed against the Welsh side. Pochettino must have been impressed with what he saw, and Maatsen is certainly keen to grab the Argentine coach’s attention.
As quoted by football.london, Maatsen said after the match: “I am here now doing my best and that’s all I can do. Of course, I want to stay but if I prove it every day in training and work hard in the matches then they will decide but hopefully I can stay here and progress. I hope to come back here and show the fans and the manager what I am capable of.”
Burnley may have to look beyond Maatsen
This will be a blow to Vincent Kompany and Burnley fans who wanted to see Maatsen in claret again next season. It could still happen, of course, but it doesn’t seem like something the 21-year-old is willing to push for at this moment in time.
If that does turn out to be the case, and Pochettino opts to keep Maatsen in-house, then Kompany will have to look elsewhere in the market to bolster his defensive options.