Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca believes that the club have the potential to dominate the Premier League over the next five to ten years.
The Blues have been mired in chaos and uncertainty ever since Roman Abramovich was forced to sell up to Clearlake Capital in 2022.
Chelsea have struggled on the pitch and failed to qualify for the Uefa Champions League since then, despite spending more than £1.2 billion on transfers.
But Maresca has overseen a strong start to the campaign since replacing Mauricio Pochettino as manager in the summer; his side are third in the table, nine points behind leaders Liverpool.
Chelsea predicted to ‘dominate’ Premier League for next decade
The Italian believes that all the ingredients are there for Chelsea to be the major force in English football over the next decade.
“The good thing is that I still think what I said to the owners and the sporting director the first time I met them,” Maresca said in his pre-match press conference ahead of travelling to Southampton on Wednesday.
“Because of the age and because of how good the squad is, for me, Chelsea – in the next five to 10 years – will be one of the teams, or the team, that is going to dominate English football.
“This is what I said to the club the first time I met them, no matter who the manager will be.
“They didn’t ask me for any targets; the only thing they asked me is to try to be, for the next years, something important. I think we are (going) in the right direction.”
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Maresca admitted he has been taken by surprise at how much Chelsea have progressed during his time in charge so far.
“In terms of expectation, we are ahead of my expectation, in the way we are playing and, for sure, in terms of results,” he said.
“We started four or five months ago; it’s very, very, very, very early, a short-time together. But the best feeling I have is that there are many things we can do better and we are (going) in the right direction.”
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