Chelsea are closing in on yet another manager.
It has been over a week since Mauricio Pochettino decided he had enough and departed after only one season in charge.
The man everyone is currently talking about is Leicester City boss, Enzo Maresca – Sources have told HITC that Chelsea are close to agreeing a deal for the promotion-winning boss.
In some quarters, this is a surprising name for Chelsea to push for because he has zero Premier League experience and his first gig was at the King Power Stadium.
But others feel that the powers that be at Stamford Bridge want more control and they simply aren’t going to get it with an experienced coach.
Andy Townsend touched upon that and how he can understand why Chelsea are pushing for Maresca’s signature, as he told talkSPORT.
The former left-back stated that the Italian is probably ‘desperate’ to get an opportunity like Chelsea so he is more prone to listening to orders, but he feels there is someone else the club should get in.
Townsend feels Roberto De Zerbi is the man for the London club – he left Brighton and Hove Albion at the end of the season.
The 44-year-old guided Brighton to their first-ever European finish last season, but only managed an 11th-placed finish during the recently concluded campaign.
Roberto De Zerbi at Chelsea
“Now, it’s really intriguing which way Chelsea are going to go,” said Townsend. “Do they go for one of these younger guys? That then gives the owner and the sporting director carte blanche to do what they want to do. You start getting the experienced guys in they aren’t going to do it. It doesn’t matter what players you bring in, you don’t tell Jose Mourinho what player to play on a Saturday or midweek.
“I think De Zerbi or that kind of guy would do well at Chelsea, I do. They need someone really single-minded at that club, someone brave enough to make a decision and it goes against the flow for a period. They tried to bring in a Graham Potter. That didn’t work – I have a feeling he would do quite well there.
“Someone like Enzo Maresca, I get that. That would work. They are desperate to get an opportunity at a club like Chelsea. They are happy to turn around and nod their head when perhaps they don’t totally agree.”
Huge pressure on Enzo Maresca at Chelsea
You feel, at a bare minimum, the task for Maresca is to get the club back into the Champions League after they finished sixth this season.
If he doesn’t, then surely he is out of a job? When Pochettino left, the feeling was that he didn’t deliver what was expected and that was a top-four finish.
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There has been too much change at the club with nothing really working at the moment for the powers that be.
You feel if this one goes wrong, then the fans will really start to turn on the owners because there is a lot of pressure on them.
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