Enzo Maresca one of five reasons Chelsea will struggle this season

It’s all gone downhill for Chelsea since their Champions League triumph over Manchester City in 2021. Five different managers, over £1bn of new recruits and nothing tangible to show for it.

Here’s why we can expect more of the same under Enzo Maresca in 2024/2025.

Lack of experience
As of the start of last season, Chelsea had the youngest squad in the Premier League with an average age of 23.7. This summer they have lost Thiago Silva, Raheem Sterling and Conor Gallagher to bring that lowly number down even further. The starting line-up against Wolves had an average age of just 23.4.

It’s a massive part of the Todd Boehly-Clearlake plan and filling the squad with children brings the benefits of energy and longevity, assuming enough of them come good. And it’s not as though they’re all rookies despite their tender ages.

Twenty-three-year-old Enzo Fernandez won the World Cup in 2022 and the Copa America playing alongside Lionel Messi. One of the elder statesman Marc Cucurella, 26, is a Euro 2024 champion, Cole Palmer reached that final after an astonishing debut season for Chelsea and Joao Felix has been around the block.

The question is, when the young squad hits bumps in the road – which will inevitable happen – will they miss a wise head to guide them through?

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Doctor, doctor…
Despite having an excellent squad with an excess of young talent, Chelsea have suffered a tranche of injury problems over the last two seasons.

The Blues were hit with a whopping 97 injures across the entirety of last season which is 16 more than any other club across Europe’s top 5 leagues. And this isn’t a new problem. Club doctor Paco Biosca and head physio Thierry Laurent were both dismissed when Todd Boehly took charge of the club but the new faces have, if anything, made things worse.

The Premier League schedule is brutal and this season will bring more pressure compared to last for the Blues with European commitments adding to their workload.

Chelsea have started the season in the same vein as they have suffered new injures to Reece James, Cole Palmer and Malo Gusto, who has been the first-choice right-back at Stamford Bridge with James so frequently injured.

James is a key player for Chelsea but frustrates through the amount of time he spends out of the team. He missed 38 games last season with a hamstring injury; that’s a total of 205 days. This season he has missed five games with another hamstring injury and it does not seem to be getting any better for the Englishman.

The lack of full-backs could be a problem as they will struggle to stretch the pitch, break teams down and defend counter-attacks.

Imbalanced squad
Chelsea have plenty of depth in the wide areas with Palmer, Felix, Pedro Neto, Christopher Nkunku, Mykhaylo Mudryk and Noni Madueke all vying for a starting spot even before their deadline-day move for Jadon Sancho.

Can any of them play at left-back?

Maresca has banished Ben Chilwell from the first team squad – a Turkey loan perhaps? – which leaves the manager with only one natural left-back in Spain international Marc Cucurella, with Malo Gusto, Levi Colwill and others presumably expected to come into that position if and when required.

Their lone option up top is Nicolas Jackson, who has faced his fair share of criticism since joining the club in 2023.

Todd Boehly wanted Victor Oshimen from Napoli but could not seal the deal with the Nigerian joining Galatasaray in an extraordinary deadline-day deal. Felix, Nkunku and others could play in Jackson’s stead, but we fully expect their xG to far outstrip their goals tally at Chelsea, as is absolutely traditional.

New manager 
Enzo Maresca is the fifth manager at Stamford Bridge since Thomas Tuchel and the owners have been fiercely criticised for failing to give other managers sufficient time; Graham Potter didn’t last the season and Mauricio Pochettino was given the hook despite (eventually) impressing most observers by guiding Chelsea back into Europe.

It is clear that Maresca wants to build a clear identity at the club like Arteta has been allowed to foster at Arsenal. His style is very similar to Pep as he likes to pass the ball around the back, beating the high press and using inverted full-backs, while Pochettino favoured a high-pressing, attacking style of football, overloading opposition defences.

But unlike Pochettino, Maresca does not have the experience or the reputation to force through his ideas. And he will be very easily discarded as soon as Chelsea hit a sticky patch. And you know that sticky patch is coming soon…

Lack of a stand-out goalkeeper
Despite Chelsea having a busy summer transfer window, we’re still far from convinced they have a top-quality goalkeeper in their ranks.

Robert Sanchez is the current first choice for the Blues but many fans believe he is not good enough to carry Chelsea to traditional Chelsea heights.

It sounds simplistic but other top Premier League teams have top goalkeepers; Man City have Ederson, Arsenal signed David Raya and Liverpool have Alisson with another ready and waiting to take his place. Sanchez isn’t close to their levels.

The Blues conceded 63 goals in the top flight last season, their most ever in a Premier League campaign.

Chelsea signed Filip Jorgensen from Villarreal in the summer. He showed promising signs last season in La Liga, making the most saves in the Spanish top flight with 173, with a save percentage of 73.1% compared to Sanchez’s 69.6% at Chelsea.

Playing under Maresca, the Dane will need to be comfortable with the ball at his feet and he will absolutely need to improve in that regard at Chelsea. Jorgensen completed 49.4% of his long-range passes in the domestic league, attempting 9.8 per game. On the other hand, Sanchez attempted 211 long-range passes and completed 112, which results in a 53.1% completion percentage across the domestic season.

Blues fans will be hoping to see Jorgensen thrive under Maresca with the hope that he can be the goalkeeper they need to challenge Man City and Arsenal. He is young and inexperienced but showed positive signs in La Liga last season, though it seems that he will have to wait for his Premier League chance.

“This is, in this moment, the plan. But the plan can change because I said many times, I judge the players about the level,” said Maresca.