Football
Chelsea agree terms with Leicester City manager Enzo Maresca as new coach
Chelsea are reportedly in agreement on a contract to make Enzo Maresca their new head coach following the departure of Mauricio Pochettino.
World football insider Fabrizio Romano reported Tuesday that Chelsea and Maresca have agreed to a five-year deal that runs through 2029. The contract also includes an option for 2030.
Maresca had been the manager at Leicester City since June 2023, and Romano noted that Chelsea must pay the Foxes a compensation fee in exchange for hiring the Italian away from the club.
After a somewhat surprising relegation from the English Premier League to the EFL Championship, Leicester turned to Maresca prior to the 2023-24 season.
With Maresca at the helm, the Foxes won 31 matches, drew four and lost 11, which was good for 97 points. That earned them the 2023-24 Championship title and promotion back to the Premier League for next season.
The 44-year-old had an extensive playing career as a midfielder with notable clubs such as Juventus, Fiorentina, Sevilla and Olympiacos before breaking into coaching in 2020.
He spent two seasons as head coach of the Manchester City Elite Development Squad, winning the Premier League 2 title in 2021. That led to his hiring as manager at Parma, but he was sacked after just one season.
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He returned to Manchester City to serve as an assistant coach under Pep Guardiola for the 2022-23 season, winning a Premier League title in the process.
Maresca then led a quick turnaround at Leicester, and he will now be tasked with guiding one of the biggest clubs in England out of the doldrums.
Per ESPN’s James Olley, Chelsea and Pochettino mutually agreed to part ways last week after the Argentinian led the Blues to a sixth-place finish in the 2023-24 season.
While it marked a significant improvement from Chelsea’s 12th-place finish the previous year, it also continued the club’s Premier League title drought, as they have not won the EPL since 2017.
Given that Chelsea won the league five times from 2005 to 2017, there is an expectation for them to contend for a title on an annual basis, but they haven’t done so as of late.
ESPN’s Mark Ogden reported prior to Maresca’s hiring that Chelsea were also considering former Brighton & Hove Albion head coach Roberto De Zerbi and Brentford manager Thomas Frank for their opening.
Ogden also reported that Leicester were expecting to receive about £9 million ($11.5 million) in compensation in the event of Chelsea hiring Maresca.