Chelsea Confidential: How club chiefs were blindsided by Enzo Maresca

Chelsea did not see Enzo Maresca’s post-Everton outburst coming and even five days on, confusion still surrounds what prompted the 45-year-old Italian to say what he said.

By now you probably know it word for word, but as a reminder, Maresca claimed he had endured the ‘worst 48 hours since I joined the club because people didn’t support me and the team’.

Those comments, along with his refusal to clarify them, have left some at the club scratching their heads as to what he was trying to achieve.

When asked after Tuesday’s Carabao Cup win over Cardiff City whether he had spoken to any of his bosses, Maresca said he had not. However, Confidential understands he has spoken with members of Chelsea’s sporting directorship team since the Everton victory.

Paul Winstanley, Laurence Stewart, Joe Shields and Sam Jewell have been at Cobham as usual and were also in Cardiff on Tuesday, both at the team’s hotel base during the day and at the stadium on the night, which included a visit to the away changing room after full time.

It is assumed that Maresca can only have been referring to the club’s owners – Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali, neither of whom are currently in the country – when he said he had not yet spoken with his superiors. Eghbali is a regular at games and hands on as an owner and so, eventually, will speak with Maresca in person.

The press conference theatrics aside, Maresca is believed to have been behaving normally, still working diligently and coaching the squad daily and preparing the players for the challenge of Newcastle away in the Premier League.

Right now, Chelsea simply want to get back to normality after an abnormal week and for the focus to return to the football. As we approach the turn of the year, there remains plenty to play for.

They are fourth in the Premier League, still within touching distance of the Champions League’s top eight, and now into the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup with the FA Cup to follow.

There is no desire to suddenly deviate from the original plan to see through this campaign with Maresca and then hold a collective review to assess their two seasons together. Only an extraordinary fallout would force the club into considering otherwise.

Even then, that summer review is not necessarily a case of deciding whether they should stick or twist with Maresca. It is considered more of an opportunity to look at where they can improve overall, what has worked over the last two years and what they could be doing better.

It is worth remembering this is Maresca’s first-ever second season as a head coach and the feeling is that he has done a fine job up to now, the odd blip hardly being seen as unacceptable when they are a young side getting to grips with playing three games per week.

NOT THE FIRST PRESS CONFERENCE FAUX PAS…

Chelsea higher-ups taking note of what is said in press conferences should hardly constitute surprising news. It would be more remarkable if they weren’t interested in what messages their head coach was sending out of the club.

Maresca has raised eyebrows with other remarks since arriving at Chelsea, which is perhaps inevitable given how much the modern-day manager speaks. For example, his suggestion that Liverpool might be ‘impossible to catch’ also took some by surprise when he made that prediction in September.

CAICEDO SUSPENDED, EFL CONFIRM

There was a little confusion as to whether Moises Caicedo would indeed be suspended for the first leg of the Carabao Cup’s semi-finals after his yellow card against Cardiff on Tuesday night.

Having checked with the EFL, Caicedo will infact miss that match. The cautions are not expunged until after the completion of the quarter-final stage, and Chelsea’s midfielder is now on two in this season’s competition, having also received a booking against Wolves.

Both cards were unnecessary. At Wolves, he complained too aggressively towards the referee. And at Cardiff, he sarcastically applauded the ref.

21-YEAR-OLD TO LEAVE IN JANUARY

Jimi Tauriainen is set to leave Chelsea in January with early interest already arriving from Europe, including clubs in Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and Scandinavia.

The 21-year-old, born in Helsinki, Finland, is contracted until the summer of 2026. The Blues also have the option of an additional year as a safety net. Tauriainen made his Premier League debut for Chelsea against Tottenham in May 2024, but an ACL injury suffered two months later robbed the promising youngster of a year of his career.

He wrote on Instagram in July: ‘360 days. One knee injury. Countless hours of rehab, pain, doubt – but also belief, determination, and hope. Grateful to be finally back.’ Tauriainen has since been appearing for Chelsea’s development side.

FASHION POLICE TIME…

Right, it’s been a rather serious five days surrounding Chelsea, hasn’t it? So let’s have some fun to finish. 

Seeing as there was the odd social media debate over how Maresca had suddenly stopped wearing his club tracksuit for a few games (Bournemouth, Atalanta and Everton) we can reveal it’s not the first time he’s gone for his own clobber! 

Against Brentford and Manchester United, both in September, he ditched the club tracky. 

For United he went for the black suit, black raincoat, black shoes look and against Brentford it was a cardigan coat, Nike trainers and a pair of questionable skinny jeans. 

Confidential will keep an eye out for any more fashion faux pas!