Thanks to a Richard Rios own goal, Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea somewhat got their 2025/26 Champions League campaign back on track with a 1-0 win over Benfica, who are managed by ex-Blues boss Jose Mourinho. The Stamford Bridge faithful, irrespective of the three points, are still unhappy with one player’s performance, which has been described as the ‘howler of all howlers’.
The west Londoners’ hodgepodge start to 2025/26 has seen Maresca‘s suitability for the role come under intense scrutiny and a narrow one-goal win over the Portuguese outfit wouldn’t have calmed many nerves among the powers that be at Stamford Bridge.
And that’s despite Maresca being given plenty of money to play with in the summer transfer market by the club’s higher-ups. Joao Pedro, Estevao, Liam Delap and Jorrel Hato are all among the names that were welcomed with open arms over the summer months. After winning the Club World Cup and the Europa Conference League, the club are hoping such lofty spending will yield more success.
English Ace Endured ‘Howler of all Howlers’ vs Benfica, Chelsea Fans Claim
Jamie Gittens, too, arrived from Borussia Dortmund and put pen to paper on a seven-year contract for a fee of £48.5 million, but the Chelsea fans are yet to warm to the English winger. Since arriving, the London-born ace has struggled to worm his way into Maresca’s starting line-up given the array of talent the Italian tactician and his entourage have at their disposal.
Not trusted from the start, Gittens – who played for the club, Manchester City and Reading during his youth career before moving to Dortmund in the summer of 2020 – replaced Alejandro Garnacho in the 61st minute, which gave him just short of half hour to work his magic on the left flank.
In what has been a difficult bedding-in period for the Londoner, it may be time for Maresca to settle for other options on the flank. He’s got enough of them – Garnacho, Pedro Neto, Estevao all spring to mind – and it’ll give the ex-Die Schwarzgelben starlet more time to settle into life in the Premier League, a much tougher division than what he’s used to in the Bundesliga.
Statistically, against Mourinho‘s Benfica, Gittens enjoyed 16 touches (four in the opposition box) in 29 minutes of action – and that was coupled with a 60% (35) pass accuracy rate, a 33% (1/3) dribbling success rate and zero crosses completed. Benfica’s Amar Dedic was able to contain the 21-year-old.
Jamie Gittens Statistics vs Benfica
Minutes
29
Touches
16
Touches in Opp. Box
4
Successful Dribbles
1/3 (33%)
Accurate Crosses
0/1 (0%)
Ground Duels Won
4/8 (50%)
Defensive Contributions
2
Should he not improve in the coming weeks and months, which could be crucial times for the Blues, Gittens may find himself exiled from Chelsea’s first-team proceedings. In fact, there is every possibility that he could join the likes of Raheem Sterling, Axel Disasi, David Datro Fofana and Alfie Gilchrist in the club’s well-documented bomb squad.
Maresca, as mentioned, has plenty of options to choose from – and, at the time of writing, Gittens is far down the pecking order. A loan/permanent sell could be on the cards just months into his spell.
Fans, who are becoming tired of Gittens’ lacklustre performances in Chelsea colours, took to X as a way of pondering why they coughed up such a lump of money. “Gittens wouldn’t even start for Strasbourg. There’s no way this guy is a professional footballer!” one said as another added: “Gittens is the worst player to ever play for Chelsea in the entire history of the club.”
“Knew Gittens was garbage when Dortmund tweaked their formation, and he couldn’t start a game ever again. Surplus to requirements, and we dropped 60 mil on him for no reason,” another fan said. Another added: “Gittens is having the howlers of all howlers.”
“Gittens is shockingly, shockingly bad,” a fifth supporter of the capital club wrote. Another took to social media to be rather critical about Chelsea’s summer addition. “My God, Gittens is terrible. Almost like he’s a kid with less than 100 senior games. Why exactly should he cost £55m?”
All statistics per FotMob – correct as of 01/10/2025