10 incredible photos of Enzo Maresca as Chelsea close in on terrific Leicester City boss after 'agreeing deal'
Chelsea are ironing out the final details of Enzo Maresca’s contract after agreeing deal with Leicester City.
Chelsea’s American owners will appoint their sixth manager since they took over the club exactly two years ago with Italian coach Enzo Maresca poised to replace Mauricio Pochettino who left his job last week.
The ruthless nature of football has meant not even an impressive finish to the season that secured European football for the first time under the Clearlake ownership was enough to save Pochettino’s job.
But Enzo Maresca, the man who introduced an attacking brand of football at Leicester and won the Championship will be the new Chelsea boss barring any late unforeseen circumstances.
The incoming Chelsea boss started his playing career at West Brom but also had stints with several clubs across Europe including Juventus, Fiorentina, and Sevilla.
He played most games with Sevilla, winning the majority of his honours with the Spanish side (2 x UEFA Cup, 1 x Spanish Cup, 1 x UEFA Super Cup).
He played for 15 years before retiring from the game in 2014 and going straight into coaching. He joined Manchester City’s academy, then had his breakthrough job at Italian side Parma but after 14 games, it all came crashing down.
He returned to City as Pep Guardiola’s assistant and helped them win the league title in 2022 before being offered the job to be the Leicester manager after they suffered relegation.
At the King Power stadium, he introduced Guardiola’s possession-based football that forced teams into submission and ended up winning the Championship in style.
At Chelsea, he will be tasked with reproducing the same kind of football that has got many praising his impact at Leicester with the likes of Enzo Fernandez and Cole Palmer set to benefit from his style of play.
Chelsea have bigger demands and the evidence suggests he will have to get results straight away even though he’s likely to sign a five-year deal. For a man who played 394 games with 11 clubs, this job will serve as a unique opportunity to take his coaching career to the next level.