Chelsea set to lock down player Enzo Maresca thinks is 'fantastic' with pay rise

Chelsea are said to be working on a new contract for one of their most important players. It’s set to be a big summer for the Blues as they prepare for the FIFA Club World Cup and then a new season that will include Champions League football.

It was a season of progress for Enzo Maresca and his men, who won the Conference League and secured a top four finish. But even more will be expected of them next term, with Chelsea expected to get closer to the Premier League title race while also putting together a decent run in the Champions League.

New recruits will be expected between now and the summer, and the Blues are already making headway, closing in on a completed deal for Ipswich Town striker Liam Delap, and there is plenty of talk of other moves they might wrap up in the special 10-day early transfer window that opens on June 1 to allow clubs to make up for lost time due to the newly extended Club World Cup.

Maresca is going to want to add a winger and a centre-back after Delap, and there could yet be other positions strengthened. Meanwhile, the Blues must also take care of some contract business, and a report from Fabrizio Romano suggests they are prioritising a new deal for midfield stat Moises Caicedo.

Romano tweeted: “Chelsea have already started working internally on new deal to be proposed to Moisés Caicedo. Talks to start soon.” As things stand, Caicedo is under contract until 2031, but the 23-year-old has shown how important he is to the club, playing in every one of Chelsea’s Premier League games in the season just gone.

Maresca said of Caicedo in April: “In this moment he is one of the best, if not the best, defensive midfielder in the world. He is doing fantastic. The best thing about Moi is that every day he is working serious. He is very humble, very kind, polite. He is a fantastic guy. It was another great performance.”

Maresca also said of the midfielder back in February: “Since we started he has been doing fantastic in all aspects. He’s improving a lot, he’s understanding the game, he’s going in different positions and he’s open-minded. He’s a good guy, he’s humble, he works hard, so for a coach he is the perfect player.

“The good thing about Moi is whoever is playing next to Moi is playing good. When you find a player like Moi that makes the players next to them better, it shows how good they are. All the players that have played next to Moi this season – Enzo [Fernandez], Kiernan [Dewsbury-Hall], Romeo [Lavia], Renato [Veiga] when he was with us, they are doing well and it is probably because the one next to them is good and helps them on the pitch. So Moi is a fantastic player, not just because of him, but also because he is making the rest better.”

With all that praise, it’s no surprise Caicedo is in line for an improved deal with new terms that would lock him down, even if it’s unlikely there will be an extension in terms of additional time on the deal.