Delap or Pedro? Lavia or Fernandez? Gittens or Estevao? Enzo Maresca has major selection dilemmas
Delap or Pedro? Lavia or Fernandez? Gittens or Estevao? Arguably no Premier League manager has more selection headaches at the start of the season than Enzo Maresca, with Chelsea continuing their rampant spending with a splash of almost £250 million in the transfer market.
It’s vast expenditure primarily funded by victory at the Club World Cup combined with a successful summer of sales - Noni Madueke, Joao Felix, Djordje Petrovic, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Armando Broja are among those who’ve departed Stamford Bridge for significant fees already with Nicolas Jackson potentially joining the list.
However, that still leaves Maresca with 28 front-line options to condense into 11, so how could he do it? The ‘strongest XI’ isn’t really a thing at elite football clubs any more with such a bloated calendar and optimisation for every opponent, but with that caveat out of the way, here is how Chelsea’s half-a-billion side could look…
Chelsea’s likely goalkeeper and defence for this season
Robert Sanchez (£25m),Reece James (n/a), Wesley Fofana £75m, Trevoh Chalobah (n/a), Marc Cucurella (£63m)
Reece James has survived pre-season so can be expected to fill the right-back berth that he excels at when fit - no switches to midfield for. For all Chelsea’s extravagance in the transfer market over the past few seasons, they do look light at centre-back especially after Levi Colwill’s injury.
Maresca has seven specialist options but they combine for 148 appearances at the position in royal blue, less than Gabriel Magalhaes has racked up all by himself, at an average of 21 games each. Chelsea have ruled out a move for Marc Guehi, a bold move given their struggles, the player’s familiarity with Stamford Bridge (not to mention his quality and experience still aged 25) and the potential to snag a major discount ahead of his contract expiring next summer.
Trevoh Chalobah started the Club World Cup final alongside Colwill, and shares many of the technical traits that made the 22-year-old such a key man last season, Josh Acheampong and Toisin Adarabioyo started alongside Chalobah in pre-season but having missed time with injuries, Wesley Fofana remains the obvious choice if he’s fit as expected.
The French international added some much-needed steel to the Chelsea back line in the first half of last season before he was sidelined by injuries, however he remains such a valuable player to Maresca that even though he’s only played twice in 2025 (both in March) he’s straight into the team.
Despite the arrival of Jorrel Hato, Marc Cucurella is still comfortably first choice at left-back while Petrovic’s unpopular sale to Bournemouth means Robert Sanchez remains the undisputed number one.
The Blues’ monster midfield that could take 25/26 season by storm
Romeo Lavia (£58m), Moises Caicedo (£115m)
The Enzo Fernandez-Moises Caicedo axis cost £221.8m to assemble, but it’s the budget £58m option of Romeo Lavia who is the best player for the job.
Another bruiser to accompany Fofana, Lavia was one of the best Premier League midfielders for interceptions and aerial success rate, and frees up the rest of the Chelsea team to express themselves knowing they have a six-foot Belgian safety blanket to mop up any mistakes made further up the pitch.
Next to him, Moises Caicedo is the first name on the team sheet, a world-class Rolls-Royce in the middle of the park who was unlucky to miss out on a Ballon d’Or nomination.
How Chelsea’s potent attack could line up
Estevao (£51m), Cole Palmer (£42.5m), Xavi Simons (£60m), Joao Pedro (£60m)
The hardest section predict, as only Cole Palmer looks nailed on to start right now. More than any other part of the team, Maresca’s attacking selections will likely be tailored to the specifics of Chelsea’s opposition each week with so many options available.
If Chelsea complete the £60m signing of Xavi Simons, he’d also be hard to leave out. The Dutchman is so intelligent and technically gifted that he’d improve almost every team on the planet and tactical flexibility also make him such a valuable asset.
Palmer can line up on the right or centrally while Simons could deployed across the line, depending on the final member of three-man attacking midfield. That’s set to be a shoot-out between Jamie Gittens, Pedro Neto and and Estevao and following his impressive pre-season displays against Bayer Leverkusen and AC Milan, we’ve given the Brazilian the nod for this exercise.
Where Gittens has looked laboured, Estevao has been a breath of fresh air after arriving for a £29m fee that could rise to £51m, terrorising the back-lines of two of last season’s Champions League teams. While having Palmer on the right and Simons centrally may suit their individual games more, Maresca playing his more orthodox winger on the right is also a better fit for this side overall.
Cucurella is more adept at providing width in attack than James, as Simons naturally drifts inside from the left the Spaniard can fill that space and keep opposing right-backs engaged. Up front, Joao Pedro’s carried his sensational Club World Cup form into pre-season and appears set to start - is the Englishman already regretting picking Chelsea over Newcastle this summer?
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