Maresca answers tough question about whether Chelsea put profit ahead of trophies | OneFootball

One of the reasons Enzo Maresca was picked as Chelsea manager was his ability to develop young players. He’s got an exceptionally youthful group with tons of talent, but a lot of them need work to fulfil their potential.

That’s the model – to buy young and make them better. But in order to win trophies, we will need a more experienced strain in the squad. That was the focus of one question put to Maresca last night, after another big game where his young team couldn’t quite get the job done:

“I try to focus on the day by day. They just asked me on where I see the club at the end of the season, and I said that I am not worried about where we can be [now]. To be honest, now I am relaxed because we have an international break but when we work every day, I’m more worried about how we can improve the players and the team. This has been the most important thing.”

Behdad Eghbali and Todd Boehly with the Chelsea logo.

Chelsea and Maresca need right balance to win trophies

It’s an interesting question which strikes right at the heart of the modern game, and particularly the way Chelsea are being run now. At the moment they’re still the youngest team in the league. But what is the long term plan? Will the players be allowed to mature and improve and reach their peak at 27 or 28 or even older? Or will they be moved on before that? Are we going to see a Chelsea team with an average age perpetually at 22/23 years old, focusing on profits over points, or will the age be allowed to rise now that the foundations have been established?

We don’t expect Todd Boehly and Clearlake to start signing up 32 year old free agents on big wages, but there’s certainly a question of where the balance would be found.