Enzo Maresca's first team sheet of the season was always going to cause trouble - he's got about 45 players in the squad. But while all the attention has been on Raheem Sterling, whose camp put out a statement after he was left out of the squad, there are a number of other players who must be more quietly considering their futures.

Chief among them is Carney Chukwuemeka. The writing has been on the wall for him for a while as he played so little in preseason, but now he must really feel like it's time to get into gear and move away.

More Stories about Carney Chukwuemeka The good news for the midfielder is that there does seem to be some interest in him - and he could get escape to Serie A using the same mechanism that's taking his theoretical teammate Romelu Lukaku away.

It would be a separate deal in theory - the speculation is over a loan move with a PS15m to PS20m option for Napoli to buy him. We're not sure how Chelsea would feel about that. They paid more than PS20m to sign him - would they be ready to swallow a loss?

It's one thing to have the real figures lost in the details of a big deal involving other players in other directions, but certainly cashing in on Carney at a loss is not a good look for these sporting directors. We'd expect them to do all they can to avoid that.