Chelsea are closing in on the appointment of Enzo Maresca (Picture: Getty)
Chelsea are closing in on the appointment of Enzo Maresca – but what style of play can fans expect from the highly rated Italian coach?
Having guided Leicester City to the Championship title last season, Maresca appears to have topped Chelsea’s shortlist to replace the outgoing Mauricio Pochettino after Roberto De Zerbi and Kieran McKenna were also considered by the Blues’ hierarchy.
Chelsea will need to pay around £10million in compensation but hope to have the Italian appointed by the end of the week.
The 44-year-old will inherit a young and bloated Chelsea squad but one that did show promise towards the end of the season as they finished sixth to secure a return to European football.
Where did Enzo Maresca start his football management career?
Following his retirement from the professional game in February 2017, which saw him play for the likes of Juventus and Sevilla, Maresca went straight into coaching.
He enjoyed a stint as an assistant manager at West Ham under Manuel Pellegrini before being appointed as Manchester City’s Elite Development Squad manager in 2020.
‘Manuel [Pellegrini] was the person who convinced me to try to become a coach when I decided to finish playing,’ Maresca said.
Enzo Maresca has credited Manuel Pellegrini for convincing him to become a coach (Getty)
‘So, I always say that in terms of an experience about football, Manuel for me is like a father.
‘If I had some doubt, to be honest he helped me a lot as a player and in the last two years when I worked with him when he was manager at West Ham, and I have a tremendous relationship with him.
‘I was still working like a player with him and one day during a chat with him he said: ‘You know when you finish as a player you should try to become a coach because I think you can be a good coach.’
Maresca (left) worked alongside Pep Guardiola at Manchester City (Picture: Getty)
Maresca enjoyed immediate success in his first season at City, guiding the team to the Premier League 2 title before leaving to join Parma at the end of the season.
His time in Serie B was far from successful, though, and the Italian was sacked after just 14 games and he ended up returning to City in the summer of 2022 as one of Guardiola’s assistants.
‘Unfortunately, it didn’t go as I hoped,’ Maresca said of his short stint at Parma.
Enzo Maresca was sacked by Parma after just 14 games (Getty)
‘We signed 14 new players, it was a young team with an international environment, I was training in four languages, and it wasn’t so quick to get certain concepts across.
‘The start was difficult and from the outside there was a tendency to always see the glass as half empty. It ended after 13 games and I was very sorry, I still think we were on the right track.’
Last summer, Maresca was appointed as Dean Smith’s replacement at Leicester and guided the Foxes straight back to the top flight after a superb season in the Championship.
Why is Enzo Maresca so highly rated?
Maresca led Leicester back to the Premier League at the first time of asking (Picture: Getty)
Despite a disappointing tenure at Parma, Maresca’s impressive spell at Leicester and attractive style of play has caught the eye of many over the last year.
The former City assistant helped Leicester pick up 97 points en route to the title, with his side boasting the best defensive record in the league.
In addition, Maresca oversaw a total overhaul of the team’s style of play, turning Leicester into a possession-focused team, a philosophy and play style that is said to have appealed to the Chelsea hierarchy.
‘He’s by far the best manager I’ve worked for,’ Leicester City midfielder Harry Winks told Sky Sports in March.
‘He’s incredible. I think everybody will say he’s going right to the top in [terms of] managerial stature. He’s got everything.
‘He’s a great man-manager. He’s tactically incredible, some of the decisions that he tells us to do before the game and how he views the match is something I’ve never experienced before in football.
‘So, yeah, it’s opened my eyes a lot to football in the way it’s played and the kind of Pep Guardiola style as well, I know he worked with for a long time.
‘I’m loving my football, it works perfectly for me. It’s exactly the kind of football that I want to play and buy into.
‘I think since he has come in, I’ve learned so much and continue to do that.’
What tactics can Chelsea fans expect?
Maresca values control of the ball and positional play above all else.
In the Championship, Leicester were known for their patient and possession-heavy build-up but this did not come at the expense of goalmouth action, with Leicester scoring 89 goals throughout the season – a tally only bettered by Ipswich.
The Italian favours a possesion-heavy style of football(Picture: Getty)
Maresca likes to involve his goalkeeper as a key cog in their intricate build-up from the back and also uses inverted full-backs to help with ball retention in central midfield.
A deep-lying playmaker – as opposed to a more physical defensive midfielder – is preferred at the base of midfield to help recycle possession, with the other midfielders expected to push forward and make runs in behind the opposition’s defence.
With full-backs operating infield, Maresca likes his forwards to stay high and wide in attack, although the central striker often drops deep to aid build-up.
When they lose the ball, Maresca wants his side to press quickly and high to try and regain the ball, before dropping back into a 4-4-2, with a central midfielder pushing up alongside the striker to try and win the ball back.
‘When you go out on the pitch you know exactly what to do and how the opposition are going to operate and what you can do to affect that,’ Winks said in an interview with talkSPORT this season.
‘To do it so simply is the most important thing. That’s a thing a lot of managers probably struggle with, getting the message across, but the gaffer does it so well here.’
How could Chelsea line up under Maresca?
Chelsea’s potential line-up under Maresca (Picture: Metro)
Maresca favoured a 4-3-3 formation at Leicester, although he has used a 4-2-3-1 as well at points.
Robert Sanchez’s ball-playing capabilities could see him return as first-choice goalkeeper, while Levi Colwill and Wesley Fofana’s pace and passing attributes make them a potentially exciting centre-back partnership.
Pochettino used Marc Cucurella as an inverted full-back towards the end of last season and the Spaniard could continue there under Maresca. Reece James often played in central midfield for Wigan during his loan spell in 2018/19 and could be deployed in a similar role on the right side.
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Moises Caicedo may be tasked with the playmaking role at the base of midfield, with Enzo Fernandez allowed a greater license to get forward. Cole Palmer may start further back in central midfield under Maresca, but the Italian’s play style should still allow Chelsea’s standout performer this season to flourish in advanced positions.
In attack, Christopher Nkunku’s all-round capabilities could afford him a second chance after a wretched injury-affected first campaign at Stamford Bridge, while Noni Madueke and Mykhailo Mudryk’s pace and dribbling abilities make them obvious candidates to start out wide.
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