Transfer Talk Hit Chelsea '100%'

Maresca points to players' lack of focus as to why they fell 14 points further from the top

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Enzo Maresca said transfer speculation has "100 per cent" contributed to Chelsea's mid-season slump, predicting there will be comings and goings in the final days of the January window.

The Stamford Bridge club were just two points behind English Premier League leaders Liverpool in mid-December, but are now 16 points off the pace after just one win in their past seven games.

A number of Chelsea players have been linked with moves, including Axel Disasi, Cesare Casadei, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Joao Felix and Christopher Nkunku, while Renato Veiga has already left to join Juventus on loan.

Maresca, whose sixth-placed team host London rivals West Ham United on Feb 3, was asked at his pre-match press conference on Jan 31 whether the rumours had unsettled his squad.

"A hundred per cent for me. But not only us, all the teams, because in the end they (the players) are human beings," he said.

"Even if they say, 'No, I'm professional, I'm focused on this', in the end if they are talking about you, about different clubs, probably the focus is not 100 per cent. But it's not just for us."