It’s been claimed that Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca cancelled a scheduled day off for his players because he was left fuming in training this week.
There has been a pause in domestic football for the last couple of weeks because of March’s international break, but Chelsea will soon embark on a vital few months to finish the 2024/25 season.
The Blues currently sit fourth in the Premier League table, and they have nine top-flight games remaining to secure Champions League qualification. On top of that, they’re also in the Conference League quarter-finals versus Legia Warsaw as they hunt silverware.
Enzo Maresca, 45, will be hoping to finish strongly during his debut season at Stamford Bridge. Incidentally, the club also have the Club World Cup to compete in this summer.
Even though this campaign still hangs in the balance, Maresca is ‘untouchable’ at Chelsea because he retains the full faith of everyone at the club.
Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
Enzo Maresca cancels day off for Chelsea stars after losing to U21s in training
The Sun claims that Chelsea head coach Maresca was fuming with a load of his senior stars earlier in the week.
On Wednesday, a team consisting of first-team players not called up by their countries suffered a 3-0 defeat to the Blues Under-21s side in a stop-start training match. Donnell McNeilly (two) and Chizzy Ezenwata were on the scoresheet for the youngsters.
Apparently, Maresca was incensed by the standards from his main group that he decided to punish them.
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The report explains that the first-team individuals were supposed to enjoy a day off to rest on Thursday, but the Chelsea manager was so frustrated he cancelled it and made them turn up at Cobham.
According to The Sun, Maresca told the Chelsea players he won’t tolerate slacking off ahead of the business end of the season. He made it clear that he expects the maximum from everyone after watching them be outworked and outperformed by the club’s academy side.
It is believed that the standards have increased since the international stars returned to training on Friday.
There’s good news that Cole Palmer returned to Chelsea training for the first time since picking up a hamstring injury that made him miss the league defeat to Arsenal on 16 March.
The Blues return after the international break by hosting rivals Tottenham next Thursday.
Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
Enzo Maresca is rated by top managers
The jury may still be out for some supporters when it comes to Maresca, largely because the team’s form has nosedived in 2025 after a really bright first half of the season.
However, he’s been publicly praised for his ideas by some high-profile managers throughout the season.
For example, speaking back in November, Aston Villa boss Unai Emery’s hailed Maresca’s impact at Chelsea after joining them from Leicester City last summer.
Meanwhile, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta waxed lyrical about Maresca and his style of play earlier in March.