"The one that I fell in love with tonight was Josh Acheampong," Enzo Maresca, with a beaming smile, said in April 2025 after Chelsea's win away at Legia Warsaw. "Because, for me, potentially, he can be a fantastic player, a top player, for this club, for football in general.

"A good player shows you that he can play in different positions and he can do well. He was full-back: good, midfielder: good, central defender: good. So it's not about, 'yeah, I play in that position and only in that position'. If you are a good player, you can play in different positions.

"Tonight, I fall in love with Josh because, to be honest, since we started, I'm in love with him. But tonight, he showed that he can be a very good player for this club."

As endorsements go, it would be difficult to surpass Maresca's glowing assessment, delivered almost exactly a year ago to the day. Since that memorable evening in Poland, however, Acheampong has featured just 28 times for Chelsea, considerably fewer than half of the 67 competitive fixtures the Blues have contested.

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