Enzo Maresca is expected to heavily rotate his Chelsea squad this evening as the Blues take on League One outfit Lincoln City in the third round of this season’s Carabao Cup.
The LNER Stadium is the venue as Chelsea look to avoid a huge upset against the Imps, while Maresca figures out the best way to rotate his squad. The Blues come off the back of three intense away matches in the space of seven days, with a draw against Brentford, Bayern Munich and Manchester United.
None of those fixtures ended with Chelsea winning, so tonight’s Carabao Cup clash could be seen as the perfect opportunity for the Blues to respond. However, Maresca is expected to rest some of his crucial players in Lincoln, with a few of the academy talents potentially travelling with the rest of the first-team squad.
With that said, football.london takes a look at five of Cobham’s most impressive talents who will be hoping to make the trip up to the north east.
Shim Mheuka
The 17-year-old forward has started this season off with a bang. For Chelsea’s Development Squad, Mheuka has featured six times and scored an impressive seven goals. While for England Under-19s, the teenager has scored five goals in three matches this term.
Mheuka is very highly thought of at Stamford Bridge and this much was apparent last season when Maresca gave the versatile forward an opportunity on the pitch on five separate occasions. Four of those came in the Conference League, with the other one seeing Mheuka make his Premier League debut in the win against Southampton in late February.
Josh Acheampong
More of a senior player nowadays, but Acheampong has made just one appearance for the first team thus far this season. The 19-year-old started for the Blues in the goalless draw with Crystal Palace on the opening weekend of the campaign, with Tosin Adarabioyo missing due to injury.
Last season saw the England Under-21 international breakthrough at Stamford Bridge, where he made 15 appearances in all competitions. If Acheampong does start this evening, then it surely comes in the centre of defence given Chelsea’s situation.
Wesley Fofana recently returned from a lengthy absence and he did not look comfortable when he came off at Man United over the weekend, so it is unlikely the Frenchman will be used. Meanwhile, Tosin Adarabioyo and Trevoh Chalobah have played plenty of football over the last few months and could do with a rest.
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Tyrique George
Like his close friend Acheampong, George broke through into the first-team picture last season. The 19-year-old was close to moving to Fulham on deadline day on a permanent deal, but other transfers collapsing had a domino effect, so George remained at Stamford Bridge.
Since then, the England U21 talent has been heavily involved for the Blues. Maresca has used him three times in the Premier League this season, and in all of those fixtures, George has played at least part of them as the sole No.9.
More traditionally a left winger, George may well be asked to do a shift up front in Lincoln this evening. Joao Pedro is not 100% fit and Marc Guiu is cup-tied having already played for Sunderland in the competition earlier this season.
Ryan Kavuma-McQueen
The man everyone is talking about online. Kavuma-McQueen looks a serious talent, and supporters would love to see him get some sort of minutes against Lincoln tonight.
The 16-year-old has scored six goals in 10 appearances for club and country already this season – with four of them coming in one game for England Under-17s against Germany U17s recently.
After losing Rio Ngumoha to Liverpool in the summer of 2024, many at the club were disappointed for such a talent to leave. With Kavuma-McQueen, though, there are said to be equally high hopes as he awaits his first-team debut.
Reggie Walsh
Maresca could not hide his love for Walsh during a recent press conference. When asked about the 16-year-old, the Chelsea head coach said: “I like all the academy guys but Reggie is the one I like more than the rest.
“I like Reggie because he is doing things that I am demanding to the other players, but he is doing those things without me asking him to do that. I don’t need to ask him to do something. What he is doing is already what I want from that player.”
Walsh, who has made 10 appearances for Chelsea and England and youth level this season, made his senior debut for the Blues in the dying stages of the first-leg away win at Djurgarden last term. The Cobham star then completed 90 minutes in the second-leg of the semi-final at Stamford Bridge – and caught the eye when doing so.
