Matt Law published a piece today with the surprising claim that Chelsea are going to try and buy a defender this month, after months of claims that they wouldn’t do any major business, and after denying previous manager Enzo Maresca a player in that position in the summer.
Chelsea players “frustrated” by Maresca and Rosenior is fixing things
Cole Palmer and Enzo Maresca during a warmup.
Cole Palmer and Enzo Maresca during a warmup.
We’ve already covered that side of the story, but what’s interesting is what comes underneath. Law writes that “sources claim some of Chelsea’s key men had become frustrated under Maresca.”
“One well-placed source said: ‘The mood has been really good since Liam came in. Not everyone had been entirely happy, but there has been a notable shift and Liam’s communication skills have been really evident.'”
Those are some big claims – we hadn’t heard anything about player discontent under Maresca. If anything it felt like he really had the backing of his dressing room, which is what made it so surprising he was dumped so unceremoniously mid season. The issues all seemed to be between the coach and those above him, not his players.
We wonder if this is being back-projected on the whole disaster, or if there really was more discontent behind the scenes than we had been led to believe. It all smells like a rather convenient justification for Maresca’s removal, coming from sources with a vested interest.
In other news…
Facundo Buonanotte is one player who will be leaving Chelsea this month. His loan from Brighton is set to be terminated, and his new destination is already known.
Alejandro Garnacho was the star of Chelsea’s defeat to Arsenal last night from a Blues point of view, scoring both of our goals. He gave his take on the game to Chelsea TV at full time.
More Stories about Enzo Maresca
Real Madrid logo.
Joe Cole doing punditry for TNT Sports.
Marc Cucurella Heatmap.