Three Chelsea starters tipped to be sold this summer as forgotten £53m star gets his chance under Enzo Maresca

Chelsea will hope that they are sixth-time lucky as they close in on signing the highly-rated Italian manager Enzo Maresca. The signing of the Leicester City coach will be the sixth manager under American ownership and their third permanent coach since they bought the club two years ago. 

The 44-year-old is expected to bring his attacking brand of football to Stamford Bridge and will be tasked with at least getting the team challenge for a top-four spot after they could only qualify for the Europa Conference League under Mauricio Pochettino. 

LondonWorld has been told this summer will be a massive one for the club as they look to strengthen with a new goalkeeper, a defender to replace the departed Thiago Silva, a striker and another winger. 

To do so, they must first sell some players to balance the books and clear the wage bill. Conor Gallagher who has been one of the stars of the team in the just-ended season is a player whose future is still up in the air. 

Spurs have been monitoring his situation but the midfielder is said to be keen on staying. Another academy product Trevoh Chalobah could also leave as well as left-back Ben Chilwell who is one of the team’s captains but has struggled with fitness and form.

Players that could benefit from Maresca’s arrival 

As with all new managers, his arrival will mean everyone gets a chance to impress but his heavy possession-based football is instantly going to be music to someone like Enzo Fernandez who has struggled to find his best form since he joined the club.

His midfielder partner Moises Caicedo is also likely to benefit from a more structured style of football as well as the likes of Levi Colwill and Mykhailo Mudryk. Another player likely to benefit from the arrival of Maresca is likely to be £53million signing Romeoi Lavia. He has been unfortunate with injuries but will hope this is the chance he needs to get his Chelsea career back on track.

Chelsea want to be patient with Maresca and will offer him a long-term deal to reflect the journey they want to embark on.