The hiring and firing of managers is a constant in football as most of the time, it usually determines the fortunes of a team for better or worse.

The summer of 2024 is a peculiar period in the managerial market, as several big names are currently unemployed, yet the biggest clubs are putting their faith in young and progressive managers.

One of such is Chelsea who got rid of Mauricio Pochettino by mutual consent after just one season in charge. The Argentine left his role despite overseeing a late-season improvement that saw them lose just one of their last 15 Premier League games to finish sixth on the log and secure a place in Europe next term. 

Nevertheless, the Blues hierarchy is unsatisfied with Pochettino’s development of the players and Enzo Maresca will be his successor in the Stamford Bridge dugout.

The Italian will be acquired after a £10 million compensation is paid to Leicester City for the services of him and his five-man coaching staff.

Maresca is an unknown at the top level of coaching but that will rapidly change in the coming months.

As a player, the versatile midfielder won the Serie A, two UEFA Cups, Copa Del Rey, UEFA Super Cup as well as the Super Cups in Italy and Spain.

As a manager, he has lifted the EFL Championship, Premier League 2 and four EFL Championship Manager of The Month awards. 

He is a man whose tactical acumen has been raved about as the Head Coach of Manchester City’s Elite Development Squad which won their first-ever Premier League 2 title in 2021, as Pep Guardiola’s assistant in the treble-winning 2022/23 season and as a first-team coach at West Ham.

Maresca’s first spell as the Head Coach of a senior team started with a perfect record of four wins from four matches in the Championship that saw him named the EFL Championship Manager of the Month in August 2023.

Leicester were flying and had a tight grip on the top spot by the end of the calendar year.

Speaking in 2021, Guardiola predicted a bright future for Maresca:

“We are delighted like Enzo Maresca has done all the organisation with the EDS,” he said at a press conference. “He showed he will become an extraordinary manager in the future.

“Extraordinary, I feel it like I felt it when I saw Mikel Arteta, it’s the same with Enzo. He’ll be an extraordinary manager, he helped to develop many, many young players.”

That Maresca is on course to take charge at Stamford Bridge after just 67 games in management, and one full season of English football in the Championship remains a huge risk.

However, ‘The Marescalator’ is walking into a football structure that should now evolve following the groundwork that has already been laid by the Chelsea ownership, rather than a revolution of the playing squad. 

Despite his relative inexperience, Maresca guarantees an attractive style of football based on ball possession and dominance. With the profile of their players, he should be more than capable of getting them to compete for a place in the UEFA Champions League.

His schooling within the Pep Guardiola philosophy and apparent attachment to that style of play plays a major part in this unexpected hire. Leicester had the best squad in the Championship but their manager brought a distinctive system regardless of the quality of players at his disposal. He took pride in teaching his players and getting them to play his way.

Maresca’s football education was also further enhanced by the formidable presence and insight of the legendary Carlo Ancelotti and Marcello Lippi – two different managers ideologically – who both managed Juventus during his time there.

He also had spells under Manuel Pellegrini as a player at Malaga and as his assistant coach at West Ham from 2018 to 2019.

By signing a minimum five-year deal at Chelsea, both parties will be looking forward to a long-term partnership that sees them playing an attractive brand of football that maximizes the young talents at their disposal.

Par for the course, Maresca has already worked with Cole Palmer and Romeo Lavia in the Man City youth ranks and he is capable of galvanizing the youngest squad in the Premier League last season.

Maresca-ball

Leicester were transformed by the effective use of inverted full-backs under the Italian last season as Ricardo Pereira, a rampaging right-back, was deployed in the middle of the pitch.

Maresca even went one step further whenever he wanted to invert a fullback from the opposite flank as Pereira would then swap flanks and leave opponents guessing Leicester’s shape.

This tactical system could be a good fit for Chelsea, who deployed Marc Cucurella as an inverted left-back during the season run-in. From the moment the Spaniard’s position was tweaked at half-time of a draw with Aston Villa in April, the Blues won every single game until the end of the season.

Reece James could also greatly benefit from this shape as he can utilize his power, pace and supreme quality on the ball to upset opponents. The move infield would also reduce the Chelsea captain’s need to constantly bomb up and down the wings and perhaps help to reduce his physical output given his recent injury record.

Building from the back is another key component of Maresca’s game and he would place great importance on his goalkeeper being comfortable with the ball at his feet.

This perk allows his team to involve an extra man in the build-up to find passing angles to break the opposition’s press.

In the final third, Maresca uses wingers who are fantastic in one-on-one duels to maintain width and create space for overloads in central areas.

However, the lack of a Plan B is a flaw in Maresca’s system as it became a topic of discussion when Leicester’s opponents found ways to stop them from playing. Leading to a run of 10 points from as many games between February and April.

That stubbornness and determination to live by his tactical setup could yet be a sticking point at Chelsea, he will have to learn to manage the media scrutiny and pressure from fans should things begin to get awry.

On the surface, Chelsea may seem far away from competing but they came close to success in last season’s Carabao Cup final against Liverpool before undeservedly losing to Man City in the FA Cup semi-final.

Their sixth-place league finish will ensure continental football in the Europa Conference League, meaning there are enough silverware opportunities alongside the FIFA Club World Cup at the end of the season. This would in turn see a rise in the purchase of Chelsea tickets next season. 

Thankfully for the Blues faithful, Maresca is a pure coach who only wants to perfect his system on the training ground and develop players. 

He must replicate his early impact at Leicester to get off to a good start and get the fans onside. Hence, Maresca will be excited to transfer his principles to better-quality players.

It is the time for strategic changes within the Chelsea team and Maresca must be intentional about the players he wants to improve the team. Reports have already identified the need for a goalkeeper, left-back and forward.

Djordje Petrovic and Robert Sanchez shared the gloves last season but none has emerged as the undisputed no.1, left-back and vice-captain Ben Chilwell has missed a lot of football due to injury, and there is still the need for an expert goalscorer to win tight games for the team.

Maresca seems like a risky if senseless acquisition but Chelsea may have finally identified the man to take them forward in this ambitious project. His tactical philosophy and roles in the job make him a suitable candidate.

It is now left for Maresca to live up to the pressures of the job and continue the trend of successful Italian managers in Chelsea’s history.