Enzo Maresca enjoyed a happy reunion with Leicester City after his Chelsea side earned a hard-fought, but deserved win.
Marc Cucurella’s second half strike was the difference between the two sides as Leicester lost 1-0 to Chelsea in west London.
Ruud van Nistelrooy’s big tactical tweak to go five-at-the-back made the Foxes look far more solid than they have in their previous two outings and appeared to have lady luck on their side when Mads Hermansen denied Cole Palmer from the penalty spot.
The likes of Luke Thomas impressed whereas Victor Kristiansen struggled to make an impact at Stamford Bridge.
Although Van Nistelrooy hasn’t covered himself in glory in his tenure, it’s the Leicester owners and specifically director of football Jon Rudkin who have taken the brunt of the criticism.
Chants for Rudkin to go have been a regular theme at Leicester games over the past few months and after the game, Chelsea manager Maresca revealed his honest thoughts on the duo.
Photo by Pakawich Damrongkiattisak/Getty Images
Photo by Pakawich Damrongkiattisak/Getty Images
Enzo Maresca responds to Leicester owners and Jon Rudkin criticism
Maresca is never one to shy away from the truth.
After the win on Sunday, the Chelsea boss dropped hinted that he will try and sign Hermansen again in the summer after being impressed by his performance.
But once attention turned to the off-pitch issues at Leicester, the former Foxes manager was quick to defend the under-fire Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha and Rudkin.
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He said: “I met the best people in my life in terms of football in Leicester. The owner and sporting director.
“I hope for Leicester that they’re going to be a Premier League club [next season].
“I’m surprised but it’s not my job, I’m not there so I don’t know. My focus is on Chelsea but I hope they can be a Premier League club. The people there are good people, they care about the club, your family and it’s difficult to find these people in football.”
Leicester fans are eternally grateful to Maresca for getting them back to the Premier League, as are the players at the club.
Before the game, Maresca revealed he still speaks to Leicester’s players and was spotted embracing them at full-time on Sunday.
But while the Italian was very complimentary of the owners and Rudkin, they somewhat contradict a point he made before he left for Chelsea.
A report in January revealed that Maresca had told the owners to hire a sporting director to help Rudkin.
Maresca felt that the current director of football was balancing too much on his plate and needed support to help modernise their approach in the transfer market.
Rudkin is a close associate to the Leicester chairman, with some reports suggesting he has the power and authority to make some high-profile decisions.