With Enzo Maresca going for Chelsea on a long-term contract, the Italian has been warned of the penalties if his Leicester City exit does not go as planned. Enzo Maresca may not make it until Christmas, according to Chelsea manager Stan Collymore, who sends the outgoing Leicester City manager off with a warning. Maresca is set to be unveiled as Mauricio Pochettino’s successor on Friday, following negotiations with the Chelsea management this week. He will depart Leicester after leading them back to the Premier League in his only season at the King Power Stadium.
The Italian would have been moving up in divisions regardless of his company, but this change brings with it increased expectation and ambition for the top end of the table. Chelsea ended five points below the top four last season, and they intend to return to that group as soon as possible. This aim has surpassed four predecessors during the last two years, and a five-year contract in West London indicates a renewed readiness to entrust Maresca with the management of a long-term process. However, expert and former Liverpool striker Collymore has maintained that Chelsea will not be scared to continue their recent pattern and pull the plug if things go wrong for the new signing.
“With the greatest respect to Parma and Leicester, it’s a very, very, very different beast to Chelsea,” the former Premier League striker tells Maresca in his weekly CaughtOffside essay. “He knows England; let’s not forget that he began his professional career at West Bromwich Albion, and he’s played for Sevilla, Fiorentina, Bologna, Juventus, Malaga, Sampdoria, and Olympiacos, so he’s got a really impressive resume. But Chelsea is a beast that will devour great managers. “It ate Mourinho twice, Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter, and Frank Lampard.”
Part of Pochettino’s problems at Chelsea last season stemmed from an initial string of poor performances from a partly overhauled team of new players. He finally led the club to the Carabao Cup final, the FA Cup semi-finals, and sixth place in the league, but this was insufficient to prevent a split because his demand for more say in player contracts was disregarded.
Collymore stated, “He’ll need to get wins on the board without, perhaps, some of his senior players being sold as the club are close to falling foul of FFP, despite selling hotels in London and doing all sorts of creative accounting.” If the Blues want to play in Europe, specifically the Europa League, they must achieve a string of excellent results quickly.I’d be surprised if there aren’t already rumblings regarding Maresca’s job before Christmas, given how young, fickle, and rookie this group is. For me, it’s an unimpressive appointment; the club should have kept Poch, and I have a feeling we’ll be talking about Chelsea changing managers again soon.”
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