Chelsea Appoints Enzo Maresca As New Manager

Chelsea has announced the appointment of Enzo Maresca as their new head coach on a five-year contract.

The Italian coach, who successfully led Leicester City to promotion back to the Premier League in his first season in charge, will depart from Leicester City to start his new role with Chelsea on July 1st, as confirmed by the club in a statement.

“He has proven himself to be an excellent coach capable of delivering impressive results with an exciting and identifiable style,” said Chelsea’s sporting co-directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley. “His ambitions and work ethic align with those of the club.”

Leicester were disappointed to see Maresca leave.

“With Enzo’s decision made and the board’s terms for his departure met, we wish him well in his future endeavors,” they said in a statement.

“He leaves with the appreciation of everyone at the Club for his work in helping us to achieve an immediate return to the Premier League.”

Maresca has taken over from Mauricio Pochettino, who departed the club last month following one season in charge. During Pochettino’s tenure, the team from West London staged an impressive late-season surge to claim a sixth-place finish and secure European football, a significant improvement compared to their 12th-place finish in the 2022/23 season.

Maresca’s primary objective at Chelsea will be to guide the team back to the Champions League, a competition they last won in 2021 for the second time.

Before this role, he served as the coach of Manchester City’s youth team and later as the assistant coach to Pep Guardiola during their successful treble-winning season.

His first managerial role came at Italian side Parma in 2021, where he led the team for 14 matches, securing victory in just four matches.

His next managerial position came at the beginning of the 2023/24 Championship season with Leicester, where the team commenced with impressive momentum, establishing an eight-point lead at the top of the second tier by the conclusion of 2023.

Despite facing challenges in the latter part of the season, including off-field difficulties, Leicester encountered some struggles. However, under Maresca, they successfully clinched automatic promotion and claimed the top spot in the standings to return to the Premier League.

During their Championship campaign, Maresca’s Foxes implemented a possession-oriented approach, focusing on building up play from the back.

Maresca utilized Ricardo Pereira as an inverted full-back at Leicester, a system Pochettino employed to great effect in the last few games of Chelsea’s season.