Chelsea ‘make plans’ to replace Maresca with Premier League manager in ‘near future’

Chelsea are making plans to hire Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola in the ‘near future’ with Enzo Maresca now on ‘thin ice’, according to reports.

After winning back-to-back Premier League matches against Liverpool and Nottingham Forest earlier this month, Maresca’s side were brought back down to earth over the weekend as they lost 2-1 at home to newly-promoted Sunderland.

That result saw Chelsea drop to ninth in the Premier League table with Manchester United and other sides moving above them.

It is a performance that has heaped pressure back onto Maresca with Chelsea facing a tough-looking fixture against London rivals Tottenham on Saturday in their next Premier League match.

After picking up one point from three Premier League games against Brentford, Man Utd and Brighton in September, there was some speculation that Maresca might be under a bit of pressure from the board.

Speaking at the end of September, Fabrizio Romano gave an update on Maresca’s future, he said: “Many questions on Chelsea performances, many questions on what’s going on with Enzo Maresca and Chelsea. My understanding is that Chelsea have a full trust in Enzo Maresca. Red cards are being a factor in Chelsea defeats. That’s very clear.

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“Is the number saying so and so this is why, also, Chelsea are not doubting about Enzo Maresca, full trust in the manager. They believe he’s the right man for this project. So Chelsea keep protecting and backing and supporting their manager.

“Then guys, if you ask me about Maresca future, Chelsea, we are used to that, they always review the season at the end of the season. So Chelsea, with this new ownership in the recent years, they’ve never been big fans of changes during the season, only if the situation was really going so bad.

“But we also saw with Pochettino, for example, that they decided to review the situation at the end of the season in 2024 and then to appoint Enzo Maresca. So the idea Chelsea is always for the end of the season review, but Chelsea are not putting any lapse a situation of Enzo Maresca.

“Now they keep protecting the manager, and so Maresca remains hundred percent focused and hundred percent convinced that Chelsea can do important things this season, then it’s gonna take time. There are new players to integrate. There are many young players. So it’s not something immediate, but for sure, Chelsea keep working together and supporting Enzo Maresca.”

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But now a reliable account on X claims that Chelsea are lining up Iraola, who has guided Bournemouth to second in the Premier League, with Maresca ‘on thin ice’ with some Blues officials.

The account which describes itself as a ‘team of 5 elite reporters’ wrote: ‘Exclusive. We understand @ChelseaFC are making plans to bring Andoni Iraola to the club in the near future.

‘They believe Andoni Iraola will become one of the leading managers in world football. Enzo Maresca is on thin ice with certain #cfc officials according to sources.’