Chelsea youngster deserves chance to solve Enzo Maresca’s striker problem after another goal for U21s

Enzo Maresca is beginning to run out of options to solve Chelsea’s very obvious goalscoring issues right now.

Back-to-back defeats to Brighton saw them create hardly any chances. Their only goal between the two games was via goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen’s comical own-goal.

Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu both missed those games through injury, and the former is set to be out until April, leaving a void of recognised first team strikers available.

Christopher Nkunku was named as the number nine in the last two games, however has not been able to impact those matches in any real way.

Donnell McNeilly deserves Chelsea first team chance after another U21s goal

The lack of goals could well see Maresca look to his youth, and if he does he will have been very impressed with what he saw from the U21s in their recent 3-0 win over Liverpool.

While Aaron Anselmino impressed in his debut for the club, there was another goal to shout about for striker Donnell McNeilly.

After McNeilly nearly left the club on deadline day, he has picked up where he left off in what has been a very impressive individual campaign.

Maresca has already handed opportunities to Josh Acheampong and Tyrique George this season, and could save his season by promoting the goalscorer to a similar rank.

McNeilly has been seen in first team training this season, however he has so far not been handed his chance to make his mark at Stamford Bridge.

The numbers are hard to ignore though, and freely finding the net for the U21s is all the 19-year-old can do to stake his claim.

Comparing Donnell McNeilly and Shim Mheuka as potential first team strikers

Another young striker who has impressed this season is Shim Mheuka, so much so that he has made his debut for the first team in the Conference League this season.

Despite being two years younger, he has picked up his fair share of praise during this campaign. A goal in the FA Youth Cup saw Mheuka compared to Cole Palmer.

The 17-year-old has already featured for England at a number of levels, with him making his debut late in 2024 for the U19s. McNeilly has never been capped by England.

At the end of the day, the current first team experiments are really not working, and calling up either player who are serial goalscorers would offer the Blues an unknown commodity that could save them in these bleak times.