After rumblings on who the next Chelsea manager would be, it seems the club has settled on Enzo Maresca of Leicester City, per Gianluca Di Marzio of Sky Sport.
Chelsea expected to hire Enzo Maresca
Maresca was the manager of Leicester City this past season as they won the Championship and got promoted back to the Premier League. Maresca, 44, is an Italian-born manager who also had a playing career with the likes of West Brom, Juventus, Fiorentina, Sevilla and Olympiacos.
Maresca started his managerial career in 2020 by joining the staff at the youth level of Manchester City. He was the coach of the PL2 side that won the league in the 2020-21 season and notably had the likes of current Chelsea players Cole Palmer and Romeo Lavia. He worked alongside the famed Pep Guardiola during his time there and implemented styles of Pep’s football into his own.
First Team Experience
He was named the manager of Serie B side Parma at the beginning of the 2021-22 season but was relieved of his duties after failing to lead the side into one of the promotion spots in November of 2021.
This past season he was at Leicester City where they absolutely flourished. They ravaged through the Championship and won the league with somewhat ease. They had a +53 goal differential in as many games and comfortably earned promotion.
Why Chelsea fans should be excited about Maresca
Most notably the performances from midfielder Harry Winks this past season should get Chelsea fans salivating. Winks registered 100+ passes multiple times, and thinking of Enzo Fernandez in that role is an exciting prospect. He is also a Pep student, and there have been multiple successful managers to come out under his teaching.
Maresca also uses a goalkeeper as a center-back in deep possession, therefore requiring one that can play the ball out with great ability. Robert Sanchez certainly doesn’t fit that mold as Chelsea fans remember his multiple blunders this season, especially the one that cost the club points against Arsenal at home.
Petrovic is better, but still not to the level that Maresca needs to run his system. It is very likely that Chelsea sign a new goalkeeper with Maresca imminent to come in as the manager now. It could definitely be something that fans look forward to.