Maresca leaves Chelsea after turbulent end to 2025

The 45-year-old Italian won the Club World Cup at the conclusion of his first season at Stamford Bridge and will now retire in less than six months.

Chelsea stated that the club and Enzo believe a change has the best chance of getting the season back on track because there are still important goals to be met across four competitions, including Champions League football, to play for.

In December, the Blues fell 15 points clear of leaders Arsenal, who have won just one of their previous seven league games.

The story’s scope is only limited by the outcomes, though.

Maresca led Chelsea to a top-four finish and won the Uefa Conference League and Club World Cup last year, and his contract was set to expire in 2029, delighted key figures at Stamford Bridge, including influential co-owner Behdad Eghbali and sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart.

The club staff and senior management would have preferred any discussions to be kept private because of the comments made without any prior notice.

However, conflict had already begun to arise in the months prior.

Maresca had hoped to gain more recognition as a result of his Blues’ successes outside the organization. Before being blocked, he planned to publish a book and spoke at an Italian festival hosted by La Gazzetta dello Sport without the club’s permission.

He also revealed in public that he disagreed with the club’s decision to sign a central defender after Levi Colwill injured his anterior cruciate ligament in the pre-season. The club’s hierarchy explained that doing so might lead Maresca to decline as academy prospect Josh Acheampong demanded a transfer, which the club ultimately rejected.

The former Leicester manager has also switched agents, moving from the Wasserman agency to Jorge Mendes, and has been referred to as a potential replacement for Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, which Maresca has resigned.

Additionally, he has switched to his own clothing and has increasingly opted to avoid wearing club tracksuits.

Assistant manager Willy Caballero claimed Maresca felt too unwell to handle his post-game media duties, but it is thought that he was doing it because he was considering his next steps after his most recent appearance with Chelsea, which was a 2-2 draw with Bournemouth on December 30.

The Italian, on the other hand, thought that the pressure on him was unfair given the difficult working conditions, and that attempts to influence his team selection had been made illegal.

Even though he was not angry about leading a young squad, he felt that supporters’ expectations needed to be managed in light of what was possible, particularly given Colwill and Cole Palmer’s significant injuries.

Caballero, who immigrated from Leicester in 2024 along with Maresca, deputized when the Italian was serving touchline suspensions and was unsure of his options at the time.

Roberto de Zerbi, who is currently a manager at Marseille, has been a top admirer at Chelsea. Before appointing Maresca, they also spoke with Tottenham manager Thomas Frank and Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna.