Former Blue Cesc Fabregas has said Chelsea must give Enzo Maresca time and hopes the club’s owners have done their due diligence on the Italian.
Maresca was announced as Chelsea’s new head coach on Monday following the departure of Mauricio Pochettino last month, and has penned a five year contact at Stamford Bridge.
The 44-year-old guided Leicester City to the Championship title last season, and was an assistant to Pep Guardiola in Manchester City’s treble winning season.
Fabregas calls for Maresca to be given time
Maresca is Chelsea’s fourth permanent manager in just over two years under the new ownership and he follows Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and Mauricio Pochettino.
The former Leicester boss will be under pressure from day one to bring silverware to the club and get the Blues back into the Champions League.
For Maresca it’s a huge opportunity to test himself at a massive club at such an early stage of his managerial career, but for Chelsea it can’t be looked at as anything other than a huge gamble which they need to pay off.
The Italian only has one full season of senior management experience under his belt, but former Blue Fabregas believes a lack of experience isn’t necessarily a bad thing, citing the examples of Zinedine Zidane and Guardiola, but warned Maresca will need time.
“My thought is you never know or judge any decision before he’s got the time to work and prove what he’s worth,” he told the Planet Premier League podcast.
“It happened with Zidane, with Guardiola that they started without having any type of experience.
“They quickly won the treble, they won three times the Champions League in a row.
“He will have good players, he will have a good team, he will have a good young group of players who are hungry, physically ready to go who are very powerful.
“I think he will need time, he’s coached in Italy with Parma and at Ascoli so he’s coached in different types of environments and different types of football, we’ll see how it goes.
“Talking about strategy I can’t say because you’re not in the conversations behind in the background and you don’t know what they’re really looking for but definitely it’s a young coach who has done well.
“He’s got a specific way of playing and hopefully they studied well and know exactly what they’re going after.”
More than any other managerial appointment Chelsea need Maresca to work out because over two years since the Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital takeover it feels like the project is yet to really get going.
