Chelsea should have reached an agreement to make Enzo Maresca their new head coach after the departure of Mauricio Pochettino.
World football expert Fabrizio Romano reported on Tuesday that Chelsea and Maresca have agreed to a five-year contract until 2029. The contract also includes an option for 2030.
Maresca had been Leicester City manager since June 2023, and Romano pointed out that Chelsea had to pay the Foxes in exchange for signing the Italian out of the club.
After an unexpected relegation from the English Premier League to the EFL Championship, Leicester turned their attention to Maresca ahead of the 2023-24 season.
With Maresca at the helm, the Foxes have won 31 games, drawn 4 and lost 11, which is equivalent to points. This earned them the 2023-24 league name and promotion to the Premier League for next season.
The 44-year-old had a long playing career as a midfielder at prominent clubs such as Juventus, Fiorentina, Sevilla and Olympiacos before becoming a coach in 2020.
He spent two seasons as head coach of Manchester City’s elite progression team, earning the Premier League 2 name in 2021. This led to him being hired as a coach in Parma, but he was fired after only one season.
He returned to Manchester City to work as Pep Guardiola’s assistant coach during the 2022-23 season, winning a Premier League title.
Maresca then led a quick turnaround at Leicester, and will now be tasked with guiding one of England’s clubs out of the impasse.
According to ESPN’s James Olley, Chelsea and Pochettino mutually agreed on tactical components last week after the Argentine led Les Bleus to sixth place in the 2023-24 season.
While this marks a significant improvement from Chelsea’s 12th-place finish last year, it also prolonged the club’s Premier League drought, having won the EPL since 2017.
Since Chelsea won the league five times between 2005 and 2017, they are expected to fight for a name annually, but they have done so recently.
ESPN’s Mark Ogden reported before Maresca’s hiring that Chelsea was also Brighton’s former head coach.
Ogden also reported that Leicester expects to get around £9 million ($11. 5 million) in reimbursement should Chelsea lease Maresca.