Former Chelsea player set to return as part of incoming manager coaching staff
If Chelsea and Leicester City can reach an agreement to acquire head coach Enzo Maresca, a very familiar figure may be about to make a comeback to the west London team.
After firing Mauricio Pochettino at the beginning of last week, the Blues have been searching for a new manager, and it looks like they have decided on a candidate.
Following a thorough and expeditious search, Chelsea is now attempting to finalize a deal for Maresca after ruling out players like Thomas Frank of Brentford and Kieran McKenna of Ipswich Town.
The Italian, who was Manchester City’s assistant to Pep Guardiola before, meets all of their requirements for a youthful, accomplished head coach.
He guided Leicester to 97 points and the Championship title after overhauling the team’s style of play, bringing a Guardiola-esque, possession-based brand of football to the King Power Stadium.
Maresca is believed to have given the green light to a move to Stamford Bridge and Chelsea now need to agree a compensation package with Leicester.
Following their promotion to the Premier League, a release clause in his contract increased to around £10million but Chelsea will try to avoid paying that fee in full while they will also need to secure deals for Maresca’s coaching staff – including one former player.
Maresca will almost certainly be joined at Chelsea by his assistant manager, Willy Caballero, who, of course, spent four seasons at the west London club.
The Argentine shot-stopper arrived at Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2017 on a free transfer from Manchester City and was tasked with providing cover to Thibaut Courtois during Antonio Conte’s second season at the club.
Caballero was Chelsea’s FA Cup goalkeeper that season, winning a penalty shootout for his side against Norwich City in the third round, but was dropped in the final against Manchester United – which the Blues won.
He was also part of the squads that won the Champions League and Europa League and became something of a cult figure during his time at the club, particularly after an injured Kepa Arrizabalaga refused to come off for him in the Carabao Cup final.
The veteran goalkeeper never made more than five Premier League appearances in any of his four seasons with Chelsea before spending two seasons at Southampton to finish his career.
In the summer of 2023, shortly after hanging up his gloves, he was appointed to Maresca’s coaching staff as assistant manager – not, interestingly, goalkeeper coach.
Caballero played a prominent role during the season and was often seen deep in discussion with Maresca in the dugout, alongside first-team coach Danny Walker – who is also expected to make the move to Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea are hopeful of wrapping up negotiations for Maresca and his backroom staff quickly and a deal could be confirmed by the end of this week.