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BBC News
a day ago
- Business
- BBC News
Why Chelsea must back this up to avoid more doubts 'from the outside'
This season all came down to what Enzo Maresca and the players called two cup beat Nottingham Forest on Sunday to clinch Champions League football, then backed it up by beating Real Betis in the Conference League final, to earn their first piece of silverware under the Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital manager and the squad, which is the youngest in Premier League history, can now say they are winners, while the owners have proof the club is moving in the right two landmark achievements ease pressure and doubts that were coming "from the outside", as Maresca put it in a sweary rant on Italian had already been given a five-year contract and was safe regardless of the outcome of those two games, as Chelsea plan to review his position next he struggled to connect with supporters because of his ponderous style of play, while there are broader concerns about the rebuild of the club from the Roman Abramovich have been branded chaotic in the past for having four managers in three seasons. They finished 12th and then sixth under this US ownership, who gutted the backroom staff and then hired their own people. Of course, they also spent £1.7bn on the transfers of young players, albeit with significant sales to balance the books."From the outside", Chelsea looked unstable. But a critical mass of talent in the young squad averaging about 23.5 years of age is starting to click, aided by star players like Cole Palmer, Moises Caicedo and Enzo players and staff all had their own parties after victory in the Conference League - Chelsea becoming the first club to win every European within a week, talk will be about how the Blues build on it and back this up. They have a Club World Cup to come from mid-June and then return to the Champions League next they do, they will look back on this title as the start of something. If they do not, anger will again bubble up to the surface and doubts will start to penetrate "from the outside" again.
Express Tribune
2 days ago
- Business
- Express Tribune
Chelsea aim high after Conference League win
The UEFA Conference League was not where Chelsea wanted to be, but their triumph in Wroclaw could prove to be a turning point for a club that had lost their trophy-winning habit. The Premier League team beat Real Betis 4-1 on Wednesday, recovering strongly from being outplayed in the first half by their Spanish opponents. Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca's second-half substitutions lifted his team but an inspired Cole Palmer was the catalyst for victory, producing two pinpoint crosses for Enzo Fernandez and Nicolas Jackson. Jadon Sancho's fine finish made it 3-1 and Moises Caicedo added a fourth in stoppage time to give Chelsea their first silverware since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital acquired the club in May 2022 from Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. During the past three years the owners have spent more than £1 billion ($1.3 billion) on promising young talent, but until now have had little to show for it. Chelsea had been clear favourites to win Europe's third-tier club competition from the start, enabling Maresca to field youth and fringe rampaged through the group phase, outclassing teams with a fraction of their resources such as Noah, Astana and Shamrock Rovers. Maresca spoke on the eve of the final in Poland about how he had stressed the importance of the Conference League to his players. He will not need to persuade them next season as they are back where they feel they belong, the Champions League, following a fourth-place finish in the Premier League. 'Winning mentality' Maresca, in his first season at Stamford Bridge, said he hoped winning the Conference League would be a launchpad for bigger and better. "Hopefully, it can be a starting point to build a winning mentality," he said. "You need to win games. You need to win competitions. "And for sure, the trophy we won tonight is going to make us better. But also, I'm very proud about the path or the journey we have done in the Premier League. "For me, it's the most difficult competition in the world. You have to be consistent in 38 games. And these players, they showed it." Maresca had a rollercoaster first season after replacing Mauricio Pochettino. His team were within touching distance of eventual Premier League champions Liverpool in mid-December before stumbling badly. But they found an extra gear towards the end of the campaign, negotiating a tricky run-in to finish in the Champions League spots. "For sure, we have improved a lot since we started," said former Leicester boss Maresca. "We also start to win games in an ugly way. "That is something with a young squad that you struggle to do that." The Italian has been keen to highlight the extreme youth of his expensively assembled squad. The average age of his starting side was the youngest in a single Premier League campaign. It is too early to predict whether they will return to those heady heights but the Conference League is a start. Next on the agenda is a trip to the Club World Cup in the United States, for which Chelsea qualified by winning the 2021 Champions League. "Now we have 10 days off, 10 days where we need to recover energy, and then we're going to start the Club World Cup," said Maresca. "The target is to go game by game, try to go step by step, but at this moment we don't have any target for the Club World Cup. "Now the only target is to recover energy, because the season has been very long."
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Chelsea close in on Liam Delap and keen to support Maresca with further signings
Chelsea are closing in on the signing of the Ipswich striker Liam Delap and are plotting further key additions as they seek to mould a winning dynasty and help Enzo Maresca's young side build on qualifying for the Champions League and their triumph in the Conference League. Maresca, who wants to use his team's 4-1 victory over Real Betis in the Conference League final as a springboard for future success, enjoys the backing of the club's hierarchy after a successful first year in charge and will not face demands to win the Premier League next season. Chelsea's owners, Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, feel they are on the right track after securing their first piece of silverware since their takeover in 2022. Their strategy of targeting the best young talent in the world is starting to bear fruit and there is no desire to put undue pressure on Maresca or his maturing squad. Chelsea, who have given their squad 10 days off before focus switches to participating in the expanded Club World Cup next month, will try to be clinical in the transfer market this summer. Signing at least one new forward is the priority and the west London club have a provisional agreement with Delap, who has also been targeted by Everton, Manchester United and Newcastle. READ MORE The 22-year-old favours a move to Chelsea after hearing their pitch and the next step will be to trigger his release clause, which has dropped to £30m (€36m) after Ipswich's relegation from the Premier League. Delap wants to play in Europe and he already knows Maresca from his time in Manchester City's academy. It is understood that one hurdle to clear is Ipswich's signalling a desire to take Marc Guiu on loan during their talks with Chelsea. The 19-year-old forward is yet to be convinced. However, sources say Delap is Chelsea's to lose. It remains to be seen if the Stamford Bridge club restrict themselves to signing one forward. Bringing in two would raise questions over the future of Nicolas Jackson, who scored his side's second goal against Betis. Chelsea are monitoring Hugo Ekitike but feel Eintracht Frankfurt's £84m (€100m) valuation is too steep. There is also admiration for RB Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko, who is on Arsenal's radar, but he is much more expensive than Delap. Chelsea have held talks with their partner club, Strasbourg, over a pre-agreement for the Dutch striker Emanuel Emegha to join in 2026. Chelsea's budget has been boosted by their qualification for the Champions League for the first time under Boehly and Clearlake, the private equity fund run by Behdad Eghbali and Jose E Feliciano. There is recognition that Maresca's system thrives on width. Chelsea are seeking to add a right-footed left-winger to their squad. There are indications they will opt against taking up their £25m (€30m) option to turn Jadon Sancho's loan from Manchester United into a permanent deal. Chelsea's Jadon Sancho celebrates with the trophy after the Conference League final. Photograph: John MacDougall/Getty Chelsea will have to pay a £5m penalty clause if Sancho, who came off the bench to score against Betis, is sent back to Old Trafford. Maresca likes the former Borussia Dortmund winger but must consider whether the 25-year-old has been consistent enough. Chelsea have tracked Dortmund's Jamie Bynoe-Gittens and are monitoring developments around Athletic Bilbao's Nico Williams. It is felt that Williams, who is wanted by Arsenal and Real Madrid, could be too expensive. Madrid could move for the winger if they sell Rodrygo, who has interest from City. There is a possibility of Chelsea bolstering their defence. Ajax's Jorrel Hato, who can operate as a left-back or in the middle, is on their shortlist. A consideration for Maresca is Wesley Fofana's unreliable fitness record, while there is a possibility of Chelsea raising funds by selling Benoît Badiashile, Trevoh Chalobah and Axel Disasi. It is unclear if they will sign a new goalkeeper or keep faith with Robert Sánchez and Filip Jörgensen. Chelsea have the youngest squad in the history of the Premier League and have already concluded deals for several promising stars to join. The Portuguese Dário Essugo (20), will add cover in midfield. The Brazilian Willian Estêvão and Ecuador's Kendry Páez, two of the best attacking talents in South America, are moving to England this summer. Estêvão and Páez will need time to adapt. A deal has been agreed for the Sporting Lisbon winger Geovany Quenda (17), to join Chelsea in 2026. Andrey Santos, a 20-year-old Brazilian midfielder, is returning from a productive loan at Strasbourg. The influx of young talent explains why Chelsea are not getting carried away after finishing this season in fourth. They will be patient with Maresca, who has battled to convince supporters of his worth since replacing Mauricio Pochettino last summer. The aim for next season is to go far in the Champions League, challenge for the domestic cups and push on in the league. The sense is that Chelsea are two years away from being ready to win the title. – Guardian
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Chelsea close in on £30m Delap and keen to support Maresca with further signings
Chelsea are closing in on the signing of the Ipswich striker Liam Delap and are plotting further key additions as they seek to mould a winning dynasty and help Enzo Maresca's young side build on qualifying for the Champions League and their triumph in the Conference League. Maresca, who wants to use his team's 4-1 victory over Real Betis in the Conference League final as a springboard for future success, enjoys the backing of the club's hierarchy after a successful first year in charge and will not face demands to win the Premier League next season. Chelsea's owners, Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, feel they are on the right track after securing their first piece of silverware since their takeover in 2022. Their strategy of targeting the best young talent in the world is starting to bear fruit and there is no desire to put undue pressure on Maresca or his maturing squad. Chelsea, who have given their squad 10 days off before focus switches to participating in the expanded Club World Cup next month, will try to be clinical in the transfer market this summer. Signing at least one new forward is the priority and the west London club have a provisional agreement with Delap, who has also been targeted by Everton, Manchester United and Newcastle. The 22-year-old favours a move to Chelsea after hearing their pitch and the next step will be to trigger his release clause, which has dropped to £30m after Ipswich's relegation from the Premier League. Delap wants to play in Europe and he already knows Maresca from his time in Manchester City's academy. It is understood that one hurdle to clear is Ipswich's signalling a desire to take Marc Guiu on loan during their talks with Chelsea. The 19-year-old forward is yet to be convinced. However, sources say Delap is Chelsea's to lose. It remains to be seen if the Stamford Bridge club restrict themselves to signing one forward. Bringing in two would raise questions over the future of Nicolas Jackson, who scored his side's second goal against Betis. Chelsea are monitoring Hugo Ekitike but feel Eintracht Frankfurt's £84m valuation is too steep. There is also admiration for RB Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko, who is on Arsenal's radar, but he is much more expensive than Delap. Chelsea have held talks with their partner club, Strasbourg, over a pre-agreement for the Dutch striker Emanuel Emegha to join in 2026. Chelsea's budget has been boosted by their qualification for the Champions League for the first time under Boehly and Clearlake, the private equity fund run by Behdad Eghbali and Jose E Feliciano. There is recognition that Maresca's system thrives on width. Chelsea are seeking to add a right-footed left-winger to their squad. There are indications they will opt against taking up their £25m option to turn Jadon Sancho's loan from Manchester United into a permanent deal. Chelsea will have to pay a £5m penalty clause if Sancho, who came off the bench to score against Betis, is sent back to Old Trafford. Maresca likes the former Borussia Dortmund winger but must consider whether the 25-year-old has been consistent enough. Chelsea have tracked Dortmund's Jamie Bynoe-Gittens and are monitoring developments around Athletic Bilbao's Nico Williams. It is felt that Williams, who is wanted by Arsenal and Real Madrid, could be too expensive. Madrid could move for the winger if they sell Rodrygo, who has interest from City. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion There is a possibility of Chelsea bolstering their defence. Ajax's Jorrel Hato, who can operate as a left-back or in the middle, is on their shortlist. A consideration for Maresca is Wesley Fofana's unreliable fitness record, while there is a possibility of Chelsea raising funds by selling Benoît Badiashile, Trevoh Chalobah and Axel Disasi. It is unclear if they will sign a new goalkeeper or keep faith with Robert Sánchez and Filip Jörgensen. Chelsea have the youngest squad in the history of the Premier League and have already concluded deals for several promising stars to join. The Portuguese Dário Essugo, 20, will add cover in midfield. The Brazilian Willian Estêvão and Ecuador's Kendry Páez, two of the best attacking talents in South America, are moving to England this summer. Estêvão and Páez will need time to adapt. A deal has been agreed for the Sporting Lisbon winger Geovany Quenda, 17, to join Chelsea in 2026. Andrey Santos, a 20-year-old Brazilian midfielder, is returning from a productive loan at Strasbourg. The influx of young talent explains why Chelsea are not getting carried away after finishing this season in fourth. They will be patient with Maresca, who has battled to convince supporters of his worth since replacing Mauricio Pochettino last summer. The aim for next season is to go far in the Champions League, challenge for the domestic cups and push on in the league. The sense is that Chelsea are two years away from being ready to win the title.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Chelsea get springboard to rejoin elite as huge summer lies ahead
As Chelsea's players celebrated their Conference League triumph and the travelling fans sang with restored accuracy about having 'won it all', the message from Enzo Maresca was clear: this is just the start. 'To build a winning mentality, you need to win games and competitions,' said Maresca, whose debut season has now yielded major silverware to go with a Champions League return. 'The trophy we won tonight is going to make us better, for sure.' And, of course, it will have to. Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital did not buy Chelsea to win the Conference League, nor is it why they hired Maresca or why he took the job. Certainly, none of the bright young things recruited at enormous expense over the last three years were bought with this as their forecast ceiling, nor did they each sign unprecedented long-term contracts thinking this would be as good as it got. But it is where Chelsea are right now and, having already ensured it is not where they will be next season, this was a night to be enjoyed for what it was. Even for Chelsea, no silverware comes easy, whatever their run in this competition and a 4-1 final scoreline - harsh on Real Betis - might suggest. Maybe it was the message sent by Maresca, leaving his captain Reece James on the bench for a major European final. Maybe it was the fact that in securing a top-four finish, the primary business of the season had already been done. Or maybe it was because, of the hundred or so fans queuing to have their photo taken with the trophy in the early afternoon, all but a handful were dressed in white and green. Everywhere you looked in Wroclaw there were signs that this was a markedly bigger game for Betis than for Chelsea, their first-ever European final against a club that won the Champions League only four years ago. Nowhere was it more blatant than in the opening 45 minutes, when Betis led 1-0. But Chelsea have shown little regard for fairytales in the past week, mercilessly dispatching Nottingham Forest when just about every neutral would have liked to see the two-time European Cup winners reach the Champions League instead. Here again, Chelsea killed any sense of romance like a honeymoon suite fart, with Cole Palmer as trumper-in-chief. Palmer produced his best performance in months when it mattered most, conjuring sensational assists for Enzo Fernandez and Nicolas Jackson in a five-minute spell that effectively won the cup. Goals from substitute Jadon Sancho and Moises Caicedo were cruel on Betis, but the damage was done. In the end, it took James thrusting Maresca front and centre of the celebrations to force the manager to accept his flowers. It was a gutsy call from Chelsea's hierarchy to pluck Maresca from the Championship last summer and hand him the keys to a billion-pound squad. It has not always been straightforward and Maresca has not always felt unconditional love. This is a team, remember, that was booed off at home after reaching the semi-finals of this competition. The critics have clearly irked the Italian at times; after securing Champions League qualification on Sunday, his first act was to tell them to 'eff off'. Belief in Maresca from above, though, has never wavered. He has never felt subject to the same existential pressure as so many of his predecessors, under this ownership and the last. The word before the run-in was that Maresca would be given time and a second season, however the final weeks of his first panned out. In the end, they could not have gone better. Perhaps the best way to sum up Chelsea's achievement over the last six weeks is to say they succeeded in turning a season of two contrasting halves into one of unequal thirds. After another tumultuous summer, headlined by the exile of the now infamous 'bomb squad', the signing of yet more wingers and middling pre-season returns, it was a surprise quite how quickly Maresca's Chelsea clicked, producing results even as the manager himself was clearly still figuring out his best team. In their opening 16 Premier League matches, the Blues lost only twice, to Liverpool and Manchester City. A haul of 34 points was just three fewer at that stage than the eventual champions. In the next 16, though, they won only five times, all at home to sides who would finish in the bottom seven. A total of 20 points through that period was three fewer than Everton and six behind Wolves. Which is why, heading into the run-in, faith in Chelsea's Champions League prospects had dipped. Had they carried on in a similar vein they may well have dropped out of the European places entirely. Yet Maresca's men rose to the challenge, winning five of their last six matches. Under pressure on the final day, they proved their mettle as Forest, Newcastle and Aston Villa all faltered. There was, in the end, no fluke about it at all. Go back to that fine run through the autumn and it looked unlikely that resilience was the quality that would be needed to get over the line. Chelsea were a watchable, free-flowing side, outgunning opponents and inspired by Palmer, who was then rivalling Mohamed Salah as the best player in the land. Wins at home to Brighton and away at Tottenham encapsulated the dynamic: Palmer scored all four goals in a 4-2 victory against the former, then two penalties in a 4-3 comeback against Spurs, with Chelsea's firepower making up for defensive lapses in both games. Palmer, though, was not alone. Jackson had come on plenty, Wesley Fofana and Levi Colwill made a promising centre-back partnership and, for the first time, Caicedo, Fernandez and Romeo Lavia, a-quarter-of-a-billion pounds worth of midfield talent, were all fit and playing well at once. Then things went south. Fofana and Lavia got injured, disrupting Chelsea's spine. Palmer stopped scoring, as did Jackson, before the Senegalese and Marc Guiu were both injured on deadline day, leaving Maresca without a centre-forward for two months. If the luck was bad then so, too, was the planning. Chelsea had failed to sign another striker last summer, relied too heavily on an iffy goalkeeper and players prone to injury, and surrendered their super-strength - unrivalled squad depth - by allowing too many loanees out in January. With their gutsy performances over the past six weeks, Chelsea's immediate future has been put on a smoother course 'Marescaball' appeared to have gone stale, the coach shunning 'basketball'-style games in favour of a more controlled approach that blunted his attack while doing little to eradicate the individual errors that undermined what was otherwise a solid defence. The fans who had sung 'we've got our Chelsea back' during the 5-1 rout of Southampton in early December flipped, infuriated by Maresca's attitude towards the domestic cup competitions and the ceiling he had supposedly put on his players by talking down their title chances. By the return meeting with the Saints at the end of February, the air was thick with discontent, a small but noisy protest outside Stamford Bridge railing against the club's ownership. Early in the New Year, Maresca had called a meeting of all Cobham staff, from his players through to groundskeepers and chefs, to stress the Champions League as their aim. Between that summit and going in 1-0 down at half-time at Craven Cottage on April 20, though, they looked increasingly likely to fall short. The comeback forged by late Tyrique George and Pedro Neto goals on the Thames was the turning point. Had Chelsea lost that day they would have finished the weekend in seventh with five games to play, three points behind fifth-placed Forest. Given some fans had heckled Maresca, calling him a 'w****r', as he passed the away end at the interval, who knows how toxic things might have got at full-time. That is alternative, hypothetical history. With their gutsy performances over the past six weeks, Chelsea's immediate future has been put on a smoother course. That future, in fact, comes a little more immediately than Maresca would ideally like. The Club World Cup starts in a fortnight and a squad that has played 57 matches already this season - plus internationals - could yet have another seven stretching into the middle of July in North American heat. Only last week, Maresca voiced his concerns about player welfare, fearing how overload injuries could impact his team next term, and admitted his pre-season plans are in the lurch, not knowing how deep into the tournament Chelsea might go. Closing the gap to the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal would be a challenge enough off level weights, never mind with a handicap of sorts: those teams will watch the Club World Cup from their sun loungers (or more likely, won't at all). Strengthening Maresca's squad, then, will be vital, particularly as the Italian will not be able to rely on the wholesale rotation policy used to navigate the European group stage this term once his side are back in the Champions League. Youngsters Willian Estevao and Kendry Paez will join from South America, but Chelsea want a striker and left winger to bolster their attack now, as well as a new centre-back and, once the numerous internal options have been assessed, perhaps a goalkeeper, too. Benjamin Sesko, Liam Delap, Hugo Ekitike and Viktor Gyokeres have all been linked, while January target Alejandro Garnacho is free to leave Manchester United. Chelsea could go back in for Marc Guehi after missing out on Dean Huijsen. No stars are forecast to be sold, but Christopher Nkunku, Trevoh Chalobah and Sancho all have uncertain futures for one reason or another. There is major work to be done in the outgoings department, with Kepa Arrizabalaga, Ben Chilwell, Axel Disasi, Carney Chukwuemeka, Raheem Sterling, Armando Broja and Joao Felix among those due back from loans. Whatever money is spent, Chelsea also expect a strong degree of uplift from within. Maresca has lauded his side's success in spite of their inexperience, rather ignoring the fact the club have bought young by design and at enormous expense. But he is right to be confident that the youngest team in Premier League history will grow for their journey this term. What then, would success next season look like? More of the same - a trophy and a top-four finish - would certainly do the trick on paper. The trouble is that until the last week, however much Maresca protests to the contrary, this season could still have gone either way. Chelsea fans will want signs of further progress much sooner than next May. The football in the second half of the season has not lived up to the first. Grievances have been parked in the run-in and Maresca fair in not only assessing the last six games as de-facto cup finals but treating them as such tactically as well. The approach has delivered results at the time of the year when they are all that matters, but Stamford Bridge will want a return to entertainment when the new season begins. The Bridge is itself an issue of longer-term contention as Chelsea's owners continue to puzzle over options for a much-needed stadium revamp. So, too, is the question of the ownership itself, amid running speculation that eventually one of Boehly and Clearlake Capital will have to buy the other out. For now, though, both the BlueCo and Maresca iterations of Chelsea have their first big wins, the first silverware of the post-Roman Abramovich era and a place back among Europe's elite.
