Exclusive: Manchester United designate a Chelsea outcast as their top goal to fix a problem position, and Juventus join the race.

TEAMtalk can exclusively tell that Manchester United are very interested in Chelsea star Ben Chilwell as a left back in January.

Enzo Maresca has chosen that he would rather use players like Marc Cucurella, Renato Veiga, and Levi Colwill at left back, so Chilwell is likely to leave Chelsea soon, maybe even as early as January. No deal could be made for the Blues to sell Chilwell over the summer, despite Maresca’s efforts.

Clubs in the Premier League and all over Europe want to sign the English player because they know he needs to play more often.

TEAMtalk has been told by sources that Manchester United are still interested in Chilwell. They looked at him in the summer.

Man United are planning to make a strong effort to sign Chilwell during the winter transfer window, no matter if Erik ten Hag stays as manager or is fired.

Man United’s managers want to bring in a left back and have put the 27-year-old at the top of their list. They think they have a good chance of signing him after Maresca’s harsh choice to fire him.

The Red Devils are not the only ones after Chilwell, though. Atletico Madrid is interested in the full-back, as reported recently in Spain. TEAMtalk can confirm this.

The big teams in La Liga have asked because they want to plan another raid on Chelsea. Diego Simeone, the manager of Atletico Madrid, is very pleased with Conor Gallagher after the midfielder’s €40 million (£33.5m / US$43.9m) move from Chelsea. He wants Chilwell to be his next English star.

We can tell you that Juventus is also interested in the former Leicester City player. Juve has also asked how much a possible deal would cost, just like Atleti.

Manchester United try to get rid of left-back headache
Manchester United’s left backs have been having a terrible time lately. Both Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia have been out for long amounts of time.

Because of these problems, Manchester United has had to use Diogo Dalot on the left side of defense. Noussair Mazraoui, who joined the team in the summer, is another choice for that spot.

But the people in charge at Manchester United know they need to get a specialist player for the job if they want to help the team move up the Premier League table and fight for more trophies.

Chilwell can help with this, but Manchester United fans might be worried about how much they can trust his health record. Last season, he had problems with his hamstring and knee, so he only played 21 times for Chelsea in all categories.

I see Pogba Signing with Manchester United; player leaving Chelsea

Also, Paul Pogba wants to get back to football as soon as possible now that his ban has been shortened, and he is allegedly in “advanced discussions” about a move to Marseille.

The former Manchester United midfielder left Juventus on good terms, so clubs in the MLS and Saudi Arabia are interested in signing him. However, Marseille is trying to win the race to sign him.

If the deal goes through, Pogba would play with his old Manchester United teammate Greenwood again in Ligue 1.

CaughtOffside says that Chelsea player Carney Chukwuemeka is thinking about what he can do now that he has been told he will continue to sit on the bench under Maresca.

Both AC Milan and Crystal Palace are still interested in the Blues reject. Crystal Palace wants to sign him on loan in January. To everyone’s surprise, though, Chukwuemeka might be able to get a good job in the Middle East, where Saudi teams are also interested.

It would be a shame for Chukwuemeka to leave the top level of football in Europe since he is only 20 years old and just starting out in his career.

The England U21 starlet could play in Saudi Arabia for a few years, though, and then come back to the Premier League at some point.

How are the guys Maresca doesn’t want playing?

Chelsea was able to get rid of most of the players they didn’t want to keep this summer, but they still had a few players whose options for leaving were being looked at. What have those players been up to since then?

Ben Chilwell

Maresca didn’t hide the fact that he thought Chilwell would be better off if he left Chelsea in the summer. But the left back wouldn’t give up. He was brought back to the first team in the middle of September and played in a Carabao Cup win over Barrow. Still, that’s the only time he’s played for the first team this season.

It’s Carney Chukwuemeka

Like Chilwell, Maresca said in public that he would have liked Chukwuemeka to leave in the summer. In his case, it was because there were other players who could have filled the same role. In a similar way to Chilwell, his only game with the first team so far was against Barrow.

Deivid Washington

Up until the last minute, it looked like Washington would be joining fellow BlueCoasters Strasbourg, either on loan or forever. However, neither move went through. Since then, the only time Chelsea called him up to the first team was for the Barrow game, but he stayed on the bench. He recently played for Chelsea’s U21s against West Ham in a league game.

Madueke Noni

In the summer, 18 months after they bought Madueke, Chelsea thought about letting him go, but he stayed. He has come back stronger than any of their other players who looked like they might be sent off. He has scored five goals in eight games this season, including a hat-trick against Wolves.

Cesare Casadei

Even though Casadei played under Maresca while on loan at Leicester last season, his future was unknown this summer. Since he stayed, he has played for the whole 90 minutes twice, first against Barrow and then against Gent in the Conference League.