Chelsea have announced Italian tactician Enzo Maresca, as their new manager following the exit of Mauricio Pochettino by mutual consent last month.
The Italian would become the sixth manager hired by Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali-led BlueCo since they took over the reins of affairs at Stamford Bridge in 2022.
Who is Maresca?
Maresca is a former Italy youth international who played as a midfielder for 11 different clubs during his career including Juventus where he won two titles and Sevilla with whom he lifted five trophies.
He began his managerial career with Italian side Ascoli as an assistant coach before being appointed as Manchester City’s Elite Development Squad manager.
Having guided the Citizens’ Development Squad to the Premier League 2 trophy in 2021 which had coincidentally Cole Palmer and Roméo Lavia in the side, he was appointed as manager of another Italian oufift Parma.
He wouldn’t last long with the Italian side as he got dismissed after six months and had to return to the Etihad to serve as Pep Guardiola’s assistant.
The former West Brom midfielder then took upon the role of Leicester City manager last summer, and guided the Foxes back to the Premier League after one season in the championship.
Why Was He Considered The “Right Man”?
The most apparent reason is because of his acquaintance with Pep Guardiola, having served under him as an assistant at Manchester City and his style of play has been influenced by the Spanish tactician.
Just like his boss, the Italian gaffer likes to dominate possession, with his Leicester City side boasting of 59.5% average possession in the Championship last season, while Chelsea could only manage 56.9% in the Premier League.
Maresca also mirrored Guardiola’s use of inverted fullback for his title winning side with Ricardo Pereira inverting from the right very often which could be good news for Marc Cucurella who inverted albeit from the left towards the end of the just concluded campaign.
More so,with the Blues hierarchy wanting a man that can work with the current young crop of players at the club, they decided to go for the 44-year-old who showed during his interview that he is well acquainted with the players.
The Leicester City manager also appears to be ready to work under the structure at the club where the manager is answerable to the Sporting Directors Paul Winstanley and Lawrence Stewart.
What Are The Concerns Regarding His Appointment
The most apparent one is his inexperience , having yet to manage a team in any topflight- he is one of the three Premier League managers yet to manage any game in any of the top leagues in Europe with Southampton’s Russell Martin and Ipswich’s Kieran McKenna being the others.
Apparently, this a great worry but this isn’t the first time we have seen managers with little or no experience taking over a big team and going on to succeed and who says Maresca can’t join that exclusive list.
Additionally, if the Chelsea owners think Maresca will be a “Yes sir” manager, they might have gotten it wrong completely as he voiced out his opinion publicly about the state of affairs at Leicester City at the end of the just concluded campaign
“Now the season is finished, I need to sit with the club and to try to clarify things that unfortunately this year I didn’t like” he said about the Foxes”- as relayed by Sky Sports
Another concern about the two-time UEFA Cup(now the Europa League) winner is his tactical dogmatism as his lack of Plan B almost cost Leicester City the Championship crown, having suffered a dip in form between mid-February and April.
But one would expect that he has learnt from the downturns he had while at the King Power Stadium.
Can he take Chelsea to El dorado?
These concerns shouldn’t take away the fact of how suitable he is to the job description from the Chelsea hierarchy as hiring any manager(even if it was Pep) comes with his risks.
The Italian is suited to getting the best out of the current players at the West London side, having brought the best out of a host of players at the King Power Stadium last season.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall enjoyed his best campaign unde the Italian tactician, scoring 12 goals and providing 15 assists across all competitions, while Wilfred Ndidi, Abdul Fatawu and Stephy Mavididi also prospered under him.
Having worked with Palmer at Manchester City, the Premier League Young Player of the Year should continue his growth under the new Blues’ boss while Lavia should finally be able to kick start his career under the former Sevilla midfielder.
Noni Madueke and Mykhailo Mudryk should also benefit from working with Maresca
who loves his wingers to dribble past the opposing fullbacks as evident in Fatawu and Mavididi attempting the most dribbles in the Championship last season.
If he succeeds in getting the most out of the avalanche of talented players at Stamford Bridge and gets the backing of the board with the injection of more quality in the squad, his relationship with his employers won’t end pitifully like that of Roméo and Juliet.
Rather, it would blossom like that of Jay Z and Beyoncé with Chelsea getting back to the El Dorado of European football.
Discussion about this post