Chelsea left-back Emerson Palmieri has revealed to LaRoma24 that his Italian national team coach Roberto Mancini told him he needs to play more football.
Emerson was speaking whilst away on international duty with Italy, having played 71 minutes from the start in their 4-0 win over Estonia on Wednesday night.
He said: “Here in the national team I play, I have fun and I’m fine. The coach told me that the best solution for me is to play, at Chelsea, or in another team, let’s wait for the next two months and see what happens.”
Minutes have been few and far between for the 26-year-old this season at Stamford Bridge following the arrival of Ben Chilwell from Leicester, leading to speculation over the Italy full-back’s immediate future.
That speculation isn’t lost on the player himself, as he said: “Unfortunately I’m not playing at Chelsea, but I’m calm, I think things can improve in London or elsewhere. There was some interest in me but not concrete things. I would like to play again in Italy but I can’t say if it will happen in January or in five years.”
Signed from AS Roma in 2018, the Brazil-born defender didn’t rule out a return to his former club, saying: “I have a very great affection for Roma, everyone knows it. The Scudetto. I think the team is strong, talking about the Scudetto is always difficult, there are also other possible opponents, for example, Atalanta is growing a lot.”
As it stands, Frank Lampard has three senior left-backs at his disposal, with Marcos Alonso arguably slightly ahead of Emerson in the pecking order.
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In truth, Emerson has never truly established himself as a Chelsea regular, and the overhaul in the squad was always likely to see him cast aside.
The 10-cap Italy international retains a transfer value of just over £16m according to Transfermarkt and the Blues may be wise to cash in and reinvest elsewhere.
