Medical team, City talks and young players: Reasons for Maresca's departure revealed

A guy comes into one of the biggest clubs in England with a five year contract and in his first year, he finishes fourth in the Premier League and wins the Conference League and Club World Cup. By January the following season, he ‘parts ways‘ with the club. Many people are stunned, including the fans who are preparing a protest. But when we see that that club is Chelsea, then it doesn't look so strange anymore. Enzo Maresca was kind of a surprise choice for the coach but his results were good, so why part company in the middle of the season? What happened between when he was awarded the manager of the month reward, and January? The Athletic published that the Italian manager was out after Bournemouth draw and that he didn‘t even say goodbye to the players. He skipped the press conference, packed his things and just left. The Chelsea board didn‘t try to stop him, they voted unanimously to part company with the coach. So what were the reasons for his sudden departure?

Beheaded Chelsea steal a point at the Etihad

Apparently, a lot of them and one of the major was a medical department. According to sources close to The Athletic, Maresca ignored their advices and played some footballers too much. The medical department would usually sit with the Italian two days before every game to detail where every individual was at. So, for example, it would be explained that out of a 24-man squad, 21 might be ruled as free to use however he pleased. The three others would be earmarked for a certain number of minutes according to the information at their disposal. The players in question would also generally know how long they were scheduled to be on the pitch for. This practice had borne good results. Captain Reece James has been available for selection for a year. But Maresa often ignored that, which then meant that players who were overused had to train differently in order to recoup quickly and it all led to growing frustration.

Rosenior opens up on potential Chelsea move - and gives a serious hint!

The next issue was the support, of the lack of the same. Maresca felt that the board was not so supportive while Chelsea executives were saying the opposite thing, citing the poor run in form late December and mid-March in his first season when they lost as many games (seven) as they won over the course of 17 fixtures in all competitions. The club made it clear to the media that his position was not in jeopardy and stressed the two-year review was still in place. But the poor form by the end of the year was a concern - Chelsea won one of his last seven league games and two from nine in all competitions Dropping a Premier League high of 15 points from winning positions was seen as costing them at least second place in the table. Promoting young players was also a source of discontent. Maresca was happy to give them the chance but not as much as the owners were expecting. They wanted to promote players which they brought in and keep their transfer value high or even higher but the Italian only promoted Estevao, while others struggled for game time.

And finally, the Manchester City ‘affair‘. Guardiola keep saying that he is still under contract but Enzo Maresca was seen as the potential successor to his former boss. The Athletic revealed he had informed Chelsea that he was talking to people associated with City about his candidacy for the managerial position in the event of it opening in the future. Maresca was contractually obliged to do so regarding dialogue with any other club. He told the board they approached him but that he is happy to stay in Chelsea, but the bad results (he didn‘t win a game since that City talk), along with the outburst after the Everton game (‘worst 48 hours in my life‘) were already too much. Chelsea have now parted ways with four permanent head coaches since the Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium took over in May 2022 and being a Chelsea boss is not something which relevant managers around the world want to take. That‘s why Liam Rosenior, and not an elite manager is coming over to London for negotiations.