Joao Felix tore off his sock ties in frustration when it became clear he wouldn’t be coming on against Arsenal according to reports.
The Blues battled to a hard earned point against title chasing Arsenal, which sees them move up to third heading into the international break.
It could have been worse for Chelsea after Gabriel Martinelli opened the scoring, but the Blues struck back through a great strike from Pedro Neto, although they were unable to find a winner.
Felix shows frustration at not coming on
Having made 11 changes for Thursday’s game against Noah in the Conference League, Maresca reverted back to what he deemed his strongest team.
That meant despite scoring twice against the Armenians, Felix once again found himself on the bench, and he’s yet to start a Premier League game since his £44.5m move from Atletico Madrid in the summer.
In fact the Portugal international has played just 117 minutes in the league and has been an unused substitute in Chelsea’s last four league matches, although Maresca hinted he could start alongside Cole Palmer soon.
Felix will no doubt be frustrated at his lack of minutes and he’s essentially just a Conference League player at this point in time, which certainly won’t be what he envisaged when he joined the club.
The Guardian reported that when Maresca turned to Christopher Nkunku in the 88th minute and it became clear Felix wasn’t going to come on, he tore off his sock ties in frustration.
Maresca had previously stated he felt shame about not being able to give Felix more minutes, and this is an issue he will have to deal with as top players don’t want to just be cup players.
It will be interesting to see how Felix’s situation in the league changes after the international break, but it’s clear Maresca perhaps trusts and favours other players over him and it’s up to the 25-year-old to change his mind.
