“It has been a fantastic season. Some moments have been very difficult,” he admitted, reflecting on Chelsea’s turbulent run with unwavering calm. But those highs edged out the lows: “In the end, the way we finished has been great.”
“Since I arrived, not many players have arrived… we tried to change the ones that we thought we need to change.” While some departures made headlines, like João Félix’s loan to Milan, Maresca dismissed any sense of loss: “We don’t miss him,” he said of the £46 million signing.
Tactically, he reiterated his vision: a dual identity of possession and aggression. “We try to manage games, to keep the ball, and off the ball, we try to be very aggressive,” Maresca explained an ethos he’s instilled across Premier League, Conference League, and Club World Cup fronts.
On Cole Palmer’s dip in form, Maresca was pragmatic: “He had around 18 months where he was fantastic, then it’s normal to drop a little bit… the most important thing… he has always been very professional.”
And he can even joke at Estêvão’s cheeky Club World Cup equalizer against Chelsea: “We punished him when he arrived, because he scored against us.”
One year ago, Chelsea were far from the elite. Now? “We are quite close… hopefully we can continue to improve, and be even closer and try to compete for the title.” True to form, he ended with a statement of ambition: “When you are at Chelsea, the target has to be always to win games and titles. This is the minimum required.”
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