Chelsea repeating Todd Boehly transfer strategy by handing Maresca a too-long contract
Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino shocked the whole football community with his sudden sacking last week and this led to the Blues hiring Enzo Maresca as the club’s new head coach with an unusually long contract.
As Chelsea starts their existence under Maresca, a formal statement is going to arrive soon. Given that Chelsea is willing to support their new head coach, the Italian is most likely getting to sign a five-year deal at Stamford Bridge with the option of a further extension of another year.
When Pochettino was hired a year ago, his contract was just for two years. He departed the club last week with mutual consent. Chelsea, on the other hand, seems to have altered their minds midway through providing Pochettino with the necessary time to construct a long-term project.
Chelsea seem to be repeating the Boehly approach
After only one campaign together, the two parties agreed to split ways during the end-of-season review. With Maresca, that can’t be the case, and given the duration of his contract, it appears that it won’t be.
Chelsea owner Todd Boehly has always had this strategy of spending millions on young stars and then handing out long-term contracts to them. The past is evident of the fact that this strategy has been a total failure for the Blues, with the likes of Moises Caicedo and Nicolas Jackson among many.
Although the Chelsea owners have been insistent on their transfer ideology and continue with it despite the past unfortunate results, the most recent example now being the signing of Enzo Maresca. When the Blues started thinking that he is the best option out there, they went all in and offered him five years at the club.
Maresca hasn’t managed the first team for very long. In his own country of Parma in 2021, he had his first encounter as one. He has also never managed in the Premier League because Leicester reached the Championship this year. Hence, some might raise an eyebrow at the confidence of the Blues in Maresca.
Over the course of six years, Chelsea has had six permanent managers in control. Even though four of them were acquired by previous ownerships, under Todd Boehly, the trend appears to be continuing, as both Graham Potter and Mauricio Pochettino, the club’s head coaches, left before their corresponding one-year anniversaries.
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Even still, there is a rational component to Chelsea’s actions: they want a forward-thinking manager who can lead their ambitious long-term project with an appealing football style. It’s just that the last two years do not augur well for Chelsea. A maximum of a three-year contract would have been the way to go, perhaps.