- The Italian becomes the fourth permanent manager of the current owners’ era
- He leaves Leicester having secured them promotion back to the Premier League
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Enzo Maresca will spend his summer holidays rewatching Chelsea matches from last season after being appointed manager on a five-year contract with the option of a sixth.
The Italian will start work on July 1 but is already preparing for pre-season, having asked Chelsea’s data room to provide performance analysis on every player from youth level to first team.
He has also requested the information of each person with whom he will work at Chelsea’s training ground, and has started watching matches they played under Mauricio Pochettino while holidaying in Marbella.
Leicester City are due a compensation package of around £10million after losing Maresca, 44, as well as six of his backroom staff who will join him at Chelsea, as revealed by Mail Sport last week.
Co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart led the search, with the club’s ownership including Behdad Eghbali, Jose E Feliciano and Todd Boehly voting unanimously in favour of Maresca. They were struck by his enthusiasm for the role and his vision for how he can help Chelsea recapture their elite status.
Some supporters have questioned Maresca’s credentials, given he has only managed Leicester in the Championship and Parma in Serie B, but Chelsea were willing to overlook his inexperience as they feel he has a ‘champions mentality’.
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His five-year contract is longer than any Chelsea manager has lasted in the role in the last 50 years, dating back to Dave Sexton.
Maresca is a former assistant of Pep Guardiola — an association which has led to him being branded ‘Diet Pep’. He plans to use his first days of pre-season explaining his possession-based system to the squad and hammer home why this is a winning combination which can bring immediate success.
Maresca said: ‘To join Chelsea is a dream. I am so excited. I look forward to working with a very talented group of players and staff to develop a team that continues the club’s tradition of success.’
Winstanley and Stewart added in statement: ‘He has proven himself to be an excellent coach capable of delivering impressive results with an exciting and identifiable style. Enzo has deeply impressed us in our discussions. His ambitions and work ethic align with those of the club.’
Maresca is bringing Willy Caballero, Danny Walker, Michele De Bernardin, Marcos Alvarez, Javier Molina Caballero and Roberto Vitiello from Leicester.
They will be integrated with existing goalkeeper coach Ben Roberts and set-piece specialist Bernardo Cueva.
Meanwhile, Reece James will miss Chelsea’s first three games of next season after the club failed in their bid to overturn his ban following his red card for violent conduct at Brighton last month.