Chelsea will continue with manager Enzo Maresca despite speculation over future | OneFootball

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca is under pressure at Stamford Bridge following their poor recent form, with many speculating his job could be on the line if the Blues do not secure UEFA Champions League football.

The Blues sat close to the top of the league table early in the season but have since slumped to fifth place while looking like a shadow of the team that initially took the Premier League by storm.

Injuries to key Chelsea players like Wesley Fofana, Romeo Lavia, Reece James, and Nicolas Jackson have not helped, nor has the ponderous decision to send back-up players like Joao Felix and Renato Veiga out on loan in the middle of the season or Cole Palmer losing form.

Unfortunately, the Chelsea boss has come in for criticism, with the consensus that the West Londoners might opt for someone else in the dugout if Maresca fails to secure Champions League football for the third season on the trot.

However, David Ornstein has poured cold water on those talks. When asked about Maresca’s future, he said (via The Athletic), “Chelsea always expect to qualify for the Champions League, whether that’s a formal objective or not.

“I know nothing about his job being under threat. On the contrary, I think he is well-liked, and while, of course, there are things he needs to learn and improve (don’t we all?!), I expect Chelsea to move forward into the future with Maresca.”

Maresca has done a terrific job, considering the atrocious squad planning from the sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart.

The Blues don’t have a top, clinical striker, a reliable goalkeeper or a leader in the backline. The decision to let key players leave in the winter window was also silly and left the manager short of options. The directors should be sacked for wasting north of a billion pounds.

Maresca deserves credit for keeping Chelsea competitive despite glaring squad deficiencies. Instead, the pressure should be on the sporting directors to justify their decisions and ensure Chelsea finally get the recruitment right.