Chelsea’s Enzo Maresca has warned striker Marc Guiu over poor training

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has revealed he warned striker Marc Guiu over his poor performances in training earlier this month.

The 19-year-old had his season-long loan at Sunderland canceled after just three appearances at the end of the summer transfer window as the Blues looked to overhaul their squad following Liam Delap’s hamstring injury.

However, Guiu did not play for a month until a late appearance against Liverpool before this month’s international break.

The Spanish striker then scored his first goal of the season in Chelsea’s 5-1 win over Ajax in the Champions League on Wednesday.

And ahead of Sunderland’s visit to Stamford Bridge on Saturday, Maresca said: “We had a conversation with Marc two weeks ago. I told him I didn’t like the way he was training and that he needed to change.

“He’s changed and he’s got his chance. That’s how it is. He hasn’t trained well, in any sense.”

When asked why this was the case, Maresca replied: “I don’t know. That’s why the young [players]they are sometimes, they are in one direction, in the other, so you have to go slowly, slowly with them.

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“Since we’ve been talking he’s been on top, fantastic, he’s working really well, absolutely yes, he’s ready to start.

“Marc is a typical number nine, physically strong, a boxing player. He can improve and do a lot of things better and we work with him every day to try to help him and as I’ve said many times before, he’s going to play with us.”

Guiu has previously spoken about the difficulty of joining Sunderland only to suddenly return to London.

“It was a bit chaotic, but at the end of the day I am a person who faces everything with the utmost positivity, and that’s how I faced it, now enjoying every moment, because a footballer’s career is short,” he told Spanish media outlet RTVE earlier this month.

Speculation persists that Guiu could return to the Stadium of Light in January, although Sunderland manager Regis Le Bris appeared to play down the prospect on Friday, telling reporters: “At the moment we have good strikers and we don’t need anything.”

Asked about the possibility of Guiu leaving in January, Maresca replied: “It’s October. I don’t know, also because in football things can change very quickly for everyone – for the players, for the managers, for everyone – so it’s very difficult to say.”

Saturday’s game will come too soon for Delap, but he returned to full training this week and Maresca suggested there was a possibility the £30m summer signing from Ipswich Town could feature in next Wednesday’s EFL Cup tie against Wolves.