Second in the table, leading scorers in the league and playing with a swagger weekly. No wonder Chelsea are being talked about as title contenders these days.
Barely a week goes by without head coach Enzo Maresca being asked whether Chelsea can be champions in May. The Italian has remained consistent, dismissing the notion emphatically and highlighting how Liverpool, Arsenal and even out-of-sorts Manchester City stand a better chance.
But the fact that Chelsea are even being seen in such a positive light emphasises the huge turnaround in public opinion over a short period. At the start of the campaign, the club were still being viewed very negatively. They replaced Mauricio Pochettino with the inexperienced Maresca, had another intense transfer window of ins and outs, which included unwanted players being placed into a ‘bomb squad’, and recorded one win in six pre-season friendlies. Few pundits, as well as many in their own fanbase, regarded them as contenders for the top four let alone having a chance to finish top.
So how have Chelsea turned things around? The Athletic has spoken to people at the club, those close to personnel in the dressing room and others with knowledge of the situation at Chelsea — all kept anonymous unless otherwise stated, in order to protect relationships — to find out.
No one at Chelsea is getting carried away by the start Maresca’s side have made but they do see their current form as a strong indication of their plans coming together.
Let’s begin with the recruitment policy. Chelsea have inevitably come under the spotlight for spending over £1billion on signings since the Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium took over in late May 2022, although the vast sums raised in sales are rarely mentioned in return.
Internal sources regard their first transfer window as a bit of an outlier. Taking the helm so close to the start of the 2022 summer transfer window, plus the departures of director Marina Granovskaia and technical director Petr Cech, was not ideal. Mistakes were made. Only Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana are first-team regulars from that spending spree (which was worth a club-record £273million — $350m — at the time if all add-ons were triggered). High-profile acquisitions Raheem Sterling (loaned to Arsenal), Kalidou Koulibaly (Al-Hilal) and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (sold to Marseille, now at Al Qadsiah) are no longer in the mix.
Behind-the-scenes changes have taken place since the Boehly-Clearlake takeover (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
After that, club sources say they committed to revamping the squad with younger talent on long contracts and lower salaries. The plan was to purchase individuals with the potential to develop into even bigger stars — not the finished article — and that they would all grow together so it could be a sustained period of success rather than a quick fix. The focus was doing most of the rebuild from January 2023 through to the summer of 2024.
It has meant 19 regular members of Maresca’s current squad have all arrived over the past two years. Inevitably, it would take some time for partnerships and understandings to be forged after such a large turnaround.
Chelsea have made a number of hires and built a management structure behind the scenes to help bring this about. Co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley (started November 2022) and Laurence Stewart (February 2023) joined from Brighton and Monaco respectively. Co-director of recruitment and talent Joe Shields began in January last year too. But this influential trio is just part of the story. There have been many other appointments behind the scenes to improve the scouting network and acquire experts in data and analysis. Again the benefits of all this were going to take time to be seen.
Some of the key attacking talent — Pedro Neto, Jadon Sancho and Joao Felix — only arrived in August. A group decision to move for them was made after Maresca had the chance to assess his players in pre-season and decide, for example, that Sterling would not fit into his system.
The ‘bomb squad’ and what seemed to be, on paper, a bloated squad, sparked more negative headlines. The sale of academy graduate Conor Gallagher attracted more criticism, too. But it was always intended for Maresca to have around 22 outfield players to work with, plus space for any youngsters from the under-21s, this season. This means they can cope with playing in five competitions (Premier League, FA Cup, Carabao Cup, Club World Cup and Conference League). Their squad is now seen as a strength. Maresca is in a position to rotate heavily for their European matches. Some were ineligible, injured or suspended anyway but 19 did not travel for the match at Astana yesterday.
Chelsea sources say they will continue to assess possibilities in the market but the thinking is the main core are now together and that they are under no pressure to make any rash decisions. The sentiment expressed from the outside that the club are still a top keeper and centre-back away from winning the Premier League is not shared on the inside. Chelsea sources believe everyone will improve the more occasions they get to play and train together. Besides, deals for goalkeeper Mike Penders (Genk), defender Angelo Anselmino (Boca Juniors), winger Kendry Paez (Independiente del Valle) and attacker Estevao Willian (Palmeiras) have already been finalised. That quartet could all be added to the set-up in the summer (one or two being loaned out is also a possibility).
The club now have one of the most exciting squads in Europe, including Cole Palmer, Moises Caicedo and Nicolas Jackson to name just three. When Chelsea beat Newcastle 2-1 in October, they broke a Premier League record for the youngest first XI with an average age of 23 years, 220 days. Chelsea also became the first side to not field a single player over the age of 27 in their opening 11 fixtures.
Maresca is not alone in terms of assessing Chelsea’s ability to win the league, but the feeling is that they are in a strong position and can only get better.
Much of the external credit for Chelsea’s improvement has been placed at Maresca’s feet. While Chelsea’s progress is internally not regarded as down to just one individual, he is being seen by club sources as providing the final missing piece. Those sources regard Maresca as an elite-level coach, without whom they would not be in the position they current are — as much as the other changes behind the scenes also play a part.
Maresca is the third permanent head coach hired by the Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium. Predecessors Graham Potter and Mauricio Pochettino lasted just seven months and one season respectively.
Maresca has had an impressive start with Chelsea (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Potter’s departure was not a surprise. He left in April 2023 with the club drifting to a lowly 12th-place finish in the Premier League. Pochettino going in May caused more of a stir because Chelsea won their last five league games to secure sixth spot. It was not a perfect fit, though. A club source said the hierarchy assessed how things had gone during Pochettino’s reign as a whole and not just how things had finished.
Several names were linked. Ipswich Town coach Kieran McKenna was on the shortlist and Brentford’s Thomas Frank got down to the final two, but it was Maresca who won out.
Maresca made a good impression from the outset. Club sources insist no one was worried as Chelsea lost three of their six pre-season matches and conceded 13 goals. Setbacks were anticipated. Palmer, Jackson and Cucurella only featured in the final match and players were getting to learn the former Juventus midfielder’s methods. Fofana and Reece James were making their comebacks after an injury-plagued 2023-24.
Earlier this month, Maresca revealed to Sky Sports how after losing 2-1 to Real Madrid in their last game of the pre-season tour of the U.S., Real Madrid coach (and friend) Carlo Ancelotti advised him afterwards to not play with such a high line. Chelsea did drop a bit deeper after that but Maresca said he was going to do that anyway.
Despite concern elsewhere, Chelsea were happy with what they saw in the summer. Sources spoke about how they could already see energy levels going up a level, that the playing style was taking shape with and without the ball. Another remarked how every warm-up drill or passing exercise had a purpose and was all connected to the bigger picture. There was never a case of doing something just to be seen to be doing something.
He was so involved during practice drills — going over to players to tell them what he expected from them — that one observer joked about how many miles he must have been getting through.
Maresca has made it very clear to his players that he expects standards to be maintained. He has spoken publicly about warning new signings in phone conversations before they agreed to join that if they were not prepared to work hard, they should not come. Players left out of the Premier League team were told they could not assume they’d get a place in the Conference League or Carabao Cup fixtures instead.
When asked by The Athletic about Maresca’s demands ahead of the Heidenheim game last month, defender Tosin Adarabioyo said: “There are no days you can switch off, you have to deliver every single day.”
A source close to one of the more experienced members of the dressing room revealed how the player raves about Maresca and thinks he is the main reason for their league position. He feels Maresca is up there with the best coaches he has worked with tactically and his training sessions are at a high level.
Another source close to a younger first-team player says Maresca has spoken clearly and sincerely to the squad since the beginning. The conviction in his game-plan philosophy never wavers, regardless of results. He treats everyone equally and there’s a feeling within the dressing that those who work best are rewarded.
One player told friends about his first conversation with Maresca during pre-season and revealed what a good impression was made. He immediately thought he had a strong work ethic — like other elite Premier League managers. Since then he has gone on to discuss how Maresca has given the team an identity and there is now a feeling of a lot more stability at the club overall. Like the source mentioned above, this player also believes Maresca is the best coach he has ever worked with.
On learning that Maresca had been given the job, a high-profile club executive who had worked with Maresca before told the representatives of one squad member that they were “going to enjoy it”.
Noni Madueke spoke about his man-management skills after the 5-1 victory at Southampton. The England international said: “He tells the truth and he is a man you can trust. That’s all you want from a coach. He is not necessarily a coach who is trying to be best friends with everyone, but he is a coach who is straight with everyone and fair to everyone. That’s what you need at a top club like Chelsea.”
There’s a noticeable bond within the group, even though half of them know they face a struggle to be selected for Premier League games.
Defender Axel Disasi admitted this week Maresca has helped with this aspect, saying: “He’s the head coach. He has to do his work and keep the unity like this in the dressing room and at this time it’s very good.
“We are all together. We have a lot of quality players and a big squad but in the dressing room, everyone can fight for everyone. We are all friends and you can see in the league or the Conference League, the atmosphere after each game in the dressing room, you can see the team spirit is very good.”
Maresca with Chelsea’s players after beating Spurs (Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images)
It is more impressive when you consider how there was a potentially damaging split caused by Enzo Fernandez’s actions after Argentina’s victory in Copa America in June. Maresca ensured the furore was quickly a thing of the past. Fernandez captains the side in James’ absence and is perhaps in his best form in a Chelsea shirt.
Before arriving at Chelsea, it did help that Maresca took over a side that finished just five points off the top four last season. Many of the buys made since January 2023 are more settled at Stamford Bridge.
But his 4-2-3-1 formation, which looks more like a 3-2-4-1 when in possession, is satisfying some of the criteria Chelsea earmarked back in the summer for what they wanted from their next head coach. They wanted someone with a playing style and philosophy that aimed to control games. The desire for greater defensive stability after conceding a club record 63 goals in the Premier League last season still needs a bit of improvement — they have kept just three clean sheets in 15 games under Maresca. In saying that, only Liverpool (11) and Arsenal (15) have conceded fewer than their 18 in the top division.
A measure of the impact Maresca’s style of play is having is indicated below. Looking at the underlying xG difference table (weighing up the quality of chances created and conceded), you can see Chelsea trail only Liverpool on the list.
Chelsea last finished in the top four under Thomas Tuchel in 2021-22. That team won the Super Cup and Club World Cup during the season and also reached the finals of both the FA Cup and Carabao Cup (losing to Liverpool on penalties on each occasion). It was a very respected group and as you can see here, the overall xG trends of Maresca’s team are the strongest since then.
Importantly, club sources say Maresca is very collaborative with the management structure and sits comfortably within it. He has also forged a much stronger bond with the supporters than Potter or Pochettino did. These were two other requirements Chelsea were looking for when looking for Pochettino’s successor. The fans’ backing of the manager was evident during and following the victory at Southampton, where his name was sung in the away end — and there were loud chants of, “We’ve got our Chelsea back”.
These are early days in Maresca’s reign. Not everything has and will continue to go smoothly. Defeats are likely to happen. But after being given a five-year contract, the signs are very good.
Chelsea sources even suggested that the aim with Maresca is for him to be the longest-serving head coach since the turn of the century — and match the longevity of the likes of Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp in the Premier League.
When Pochettino arrived at Stamford Bridge last season, Chelsea would issue an injury update on their website before every Premier League game. The number of absentees was consistently high, sometimes creeping into double figures. The phrase ‘continuing their rehabilitation’ became a bit of a catchphrase.
That feature ended when Pochettino left in the summer, but it would not have been of much use anyway. The injury situation has been far better, which has helped them get better results and performances on the pitch.
Yes, there is disappointment that James has suffered more setbacks with his hamstrings but that is a problem the club have had to cope with for the past three years. Fofana is on the treatment table again with a hamstring problem of his own but these things will happen.
The key is the number of injuries has dropped. A report by the BBC this week shows there have been just eight player injuries this season, losing them for a combined 234 days in total. Only Nottingham Forest and West Ham have had fewer player injuries.
Chelsea have lost fewer players to injury this season (Darren Staples/AFP via Getty Images)
Luck can always play a part but again, this is where the employment of new staff is perhaps beginning to pay off. Performance director Bryce Cavanagh was hired from the Football Association last year and has made a big impression. He leads a department which is effectively completely new. Head of performance medicine Craig Roberts, head of performance sciences Nick Chadd, lead performance therapist Meirion Jones, head of performance insights Richard Akenhead and first-team club doctor Steve Lewis have all been hired in the last 18 months. Cavanagh works with Maresca’s fitness coach Marcos Alvarez.
Cavanagh has been credited by sources with building out the medical, physio and performance departments and making them work very well together. There is also a better rapport with players’ personal trainers. It has become more common in the game for footballers to do extra individual sessions away from the training ground. Cavanagh has ensured that everything is much more aligned. Everyone knows exactly what someone has done at and away from the club. That way it can avoid the threat of overloading and therefore prevent the risk of injury.
Relationships and bonds have developed in this area too, which is always key. Sources say the players trust more in what is going on now.
So, how seriously should Chelsea’s challenge be taken? The answer is very, judging by comments coming from league leaders Liverpool so far. Take captain Virgil van Dijk who told reporters, as reported by the Mail, in late September that “Chelsea are the ones” and warned they are “going under the radar”.
Despite beating them 2-1 in October, which has played a part in Liverpool having a four-point gap (with a game in hand) over them, head coach Arne Slot was even more full of praise. In a press conference, as reported by Sky Sports, he said: “A lot of people in England were making fun of Chelsea earlier in the season for investing so much money and bringing in all these players that weren’t in the squad but, in my opinion, they have done really well in the last two or three years bringing so many talented players in. They have such a strong squad with such a good manager that they will be up there in the coming years.”
If Liverpool see Chelsea as a threat, then they must be doing something right.
Additional reporting: Dan Sheldon
(Top photos: Getty Images)
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