The Italian ticks a lot of boxes, though it remains to be seen if he can do it at the top level after a topsy-turvy Championship campaign

A little under two weeks removed from Mauricio Pochettino's shock sacking, Chelsea have announced the Argentine's replacement. Over the course of a chaotic few days, Blues fans – many of whom never wanted Pochettino binned in the first place – have been kept on tenterhooks as a string of rather underwhelming names were linked with the top job at Stamford Bridge.

For a while, Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna looked like being the chosen one. But earlier this week, he received a personal phone call from the board informing him that they have opted to go in another direction. Specifically, one place up in the Championship table.

Leicester City manager Enzo Maresca is now set to take over in west London, with the Italian signing a five-year contract after leading the Foxes to the second-tier title last season. The appointment has garnered a decidedly mixed reaction, but while there are some doubts over whether Maresca will actually be successful, Chelsea's much-maligned owners and sporting directors have at least stayed true to their plan by targeting the former Parma boss.

GettyWhat Chelsea want

Once the decision to sever ties with Pochettino was made public, details soon emerged regarding the profile of head coach that Chelsea wanted to replace him with. As reported at the time, Todd Boehly, Beghad Eghbali and Co favoured someone young who plays a possession-based brand of football.

Under Pochettino, although the Blues often saw a lot of the ball, it was hard to place your finger on exactly what Chelsea's style of play was. There were some green shoots to this end towards the climax of the campaign, but for much of the season, disorganisation reigned.

Chelsea's next manager will also be a required to accept the club's current structure. One of the principle tensions of Pochettino's tenure was the Argentine's desire for more power over decision-making at the expense of sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesTicks a lot of boxes

When you lay Chelsea's plan out in those terms, it's little surprise that Maresca seems such an alluring choice. Aged just 44, he is a disciple of Pep Guardiola, having taken charge of Manchester City's Elite Development Squad between 2020 and 2021, as well as serving as one of his first-team assistants during the 2022-23 campaign. Guardiola is clearly a fan too, once tipping him to "become an extraordinary manager in the future".

After arriving at the King Power Stadium last summer, it did not take long for Maresca to impose his complex footballing ideas. In his side's final pre-season friendly before the campaign kicked-off, footage of Leicester's crisp build-up play against Liverpool went semi-viral. Although the Foxes would lose that game 4-0, they would secure a dramatic 2-1 victory over rivals Coventry City on the opening day. And their tactical set up for that win scarcely wavered as the season progressed.

Maresca set up his side in a 4-3-3 formation, which morphed into a 3-2-4-1 in possession when the right-back – typically Ricardo Pereira or Hamza Choudhury – inverted to become a defensive midfielder. This set-up helped maximise Leicester's possession, with only Southampton enjoying more on average in the Championship last season, and the Italian remained steadfastly committed to these principles throughout the entire campaign.

Clearly then, if it's a long-term playing identity Chelsea are after, Maresca should be able to provide that. Playing this way also earned Leicester the Championship title; however, this does not tell the whole story.

GettyNot all rosy at Leicester

After winning 13 of their opening 14 Championship games, there was talk of Leicester racking up a record-breaking second-tier points tally. But in November, they experienced their first major bumps in the road in the form of successive defeats to Leeds and Middlesbrough.

These results seemed to mark a turning point, with the atmosphere at the King Power Stadium starting to turn. Soured would be too strong of a word, and apathy is probably a better term. Teams were increasingly turning up, setting up in a low block and waiting for Leicester to make mistakes in their build-up – which happened with concerning regularity. And while they continued to dominate the ball, there was a perception they were enjoying possession for possession's sake and lacking penetration.

Maresca was not for turning, though, remaining fervently committed to his controlling brand of football. And the Foxes continued to muddle through, continuing to get the results they needed to remain top of the pile, though in a less convincing manner.

Eventually, they appeared to have been properly worked out by the rest of the division. Between February 17 and April 12, the Foxes won just three of their 10 Championship games, inviting both Ipswich and Leeds back into the automatic promotion hunt. During this run Maresca directly addressed those fans who were urging him to change things up, saying: "As you know – we said it many times – we have our way to try to win the game since the start. I can understand sometimes that they want us to attack more direct. But it’s not going to happen, never, while I’m here."

It wasn't the first time he'd taken a pop at the disgruntled supporters either. A few months earlier, he told the : "I understand that the fans go to the stadium and they want to see the team play a certain way. They want ‘attack, attack, attack’ but it is impossible. The problem is that some people think that as we keep the ball we sometimes don’t go forward, but you can’t do it for 95 minutes.

"Sometimes we use the ball to defend, or we are recovering our energy to go again. This is what some people struggle to see or understand. I was at Manchester City a few weeks ago and the fans were saying the same to Pep. It is normal."

Getty ImagesConvincing the fans

This may seem like a red flag for Chelsea's match-going fans, who have endured a difficult relationship with a possession-obsessed Italian in the recent past.

During Maurizio Sarri's one season at the helm, Stamford Bridge was not a harmonious place. The cigarette-eating, ex-Napoli boss was similarly stubborn when it came to playing style and the Blues' often ponderous approach did not go down well with a majority of the fanbase. Even a Europa League final triumph over Arsenal wasn't enough to save his reputation, with many fans taking the view that the individual brilliance of Eden Hazard played a far greater role in the team's success.

Maresca, then, faces a tough task preventing his own relationship with the Chelsea supporters from turning sour. The board are already unpopular, having presided over an era of complete chaos and sacking Pochettino just as things appeared to be turning a corner on the pitch. Should homegrown stars Conor Gallagher and Trevoh Chalobah be sold as expected, things could turn seriously toxic.

If Maresca is not able to start strongly, forge a strong bond with the supporters and prove his playing style is worth backing, the chances of him seeing out his inexplicably-long contract seem remote.