Marc Cucurella risks wrath of Chelsea bosses with pointed Enzo Maresca demand

Enzo Maresca is in the early stages of his time as Chelsea manager, but the experiences of his predecessors under Todd Boehly suggests he might already be under pressure

Marc Cucurella has pleaded with Todd Boehly to show patience with Enzo Maresca after years of chopping and changing at Chelsea.

Chelsea have gone through a turbulent time since Boehly fronted a takeover by Clearlake Capital in May 2022. Thomas Tuchel was sacked and replaced by Graham Potter, who lasted less than seven months of his five-year contract, before Mauricio Pochettino followed interim stints by Bruno Saltor and Frank Lampard.

Pochettino concluded last season with five straight wins to clinch sixth and a place in Europe, only to be replaced by Maresca. The former Leicester manager signed a five-year contract with the option of a further 12 months, but given what has come before there are no guarantees he will buck the hire-and-fire trend at Stamford Bridge.

Maresca has taken four points from his first three Premier League matches while scraping past Servette in the Europa Conference League play-offs. Chelsea left-back Cucurella has seen enough promise to appeal directly to Boehly and his co-owner Behdad Eghbali to give the Italian a chance.

“I think the coach we have is very good, he has very clear ideas,” Cucurella told EFE. “We’ve had years of coaching changes, let’s see if we can achieve stability without many changes and so that the manager can transmit his ideas.

“We need stability. We have very high-level players and hopefully we can have the patience that is needed, that calm, so that everything goes well. We have the level, we just need stability and for the coaches and players to be allowed to work in order to do something important.”

Maresca’s first summer in charge of Chelsea has been defined by another archetype of the Boehly era: massive churn in the transfer market. Chelsea spent around £220million to make 11 major signings, including Pedro Neto, Joao Felix, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Jadon Sancho, as well as offloading a whopping 24 players via transfers and loans.

HAVE YOUR SAY! Will Enzo Maresca be allowed time to implement his ideas at Chelsea, or will he suffer the same demise at his predecessors? Comment below.

Despite that turnover, Chelsea still have too many players on their hands, with Maresca forced to reintegrate Carney Chukwuemeka and Cesare Casadei after the club failed to find new homes for them.

The duo had been relegated to train with the under-21s, with Maresca giving a blunt assessment last month. “The only thing I can say is the ones who are going to get minutes are the ones who I think can help us,” he said. “It’s not just Raheem [Sterling]. It’s all the players who are training apart. The moment the transfer window closes, they are not going to get minutes.”

Maresca therefore has more players than he wants in first-team training and has a huge job on his hands keeping everyone happy. After the international break, Chelsea are back in action against Bournemouth on September 14.

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