Enzo Maresca confident Chelsea can ‘close the gap’ but new manager admits he needs time

Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca promised it is only a matter of time before the club is ready to challenge at the top of the Premier League table, as he prepares to kick off his Stamford Bridge tenure at home to Manchester City on Sunday.

The Italian is the sixth coach to have led the team since Todd Boehly’s Clearlake Capital consortium bought the club two years ago.

That period initially saw the Blues, who last won the league in 2017, slump from being Champions League regulars to the obscurity of mid-table before recovering to put in a strong finish to last season under former boss Mauricio Pochettino and qualify for Europe.

The dismissal of Pochettino and Maresca‘s subsequent appointment have meant yet more upheaval for a club that has undergone massive personnel changes on the pitch and behind the scenes, with a high turnover of players and coaches reflecting disjointed performances, an unbalanced squad and mediocre results.

However, ahead of leading out his new team against former mentor Pep Guardiola - for whom he worked at City as an assistant before departing in 2023 - the 44-year-old said he believes time is now the only factor in Boehly’s £1.2billion Chelsea squad becoming title challengers.

“For me, my personal opinion, the big difference in this moment between us and other teams that are dominating English football, is just a matter of time,” said Maresca. “Clubs that have worked with the same manager nine years, eight years. We’re working with the same manager for one month.

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“For sure with time, we are going to close the gap. Hopefully it can happen very soon.

“Sometimes it sounds like an excuse, because every manager is talking about time. Time in football is difficult.

“But in our case, because of the process and because of the idea, I’m one hundred per cent sure that this team is getting better, game after game. With time we are going to close the gap on City, Arsenal, (teams) who are dominating English football.

“I’m quite confident and relaxed in terms of time, because I can see that the team is improving. It’s the only thing that I can control.”

Maresca has one injury absentee for the visit of City with captain Reece James unavailable, however Conor Gallagher, whose proposed move to Atletico Madrid stalled this week, has been training separately from the squad and will not be considered for selection.

The 24-year-old indicated earlier in the summer a willingness to sign a new deal at the club but Chelsea made it clear they wished to sell the academy graduate, for whom any transfer fee received will help significantly bolster club finances.

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A move to Atletico fell through when contract negations with striker Samu Omorodion, who was due to move the other way, collapsed leaving Gallagher in limbo.

“Conor is back, he’s training in this moment a little bit apart,” said Maresca, whose job remit does not extend to player recruitment or sales.

“He’s doing some medical tests and some training. He won’t be involved [against City] because, you know better than me, he’s trying to find a solution with the club. We’ll see what happens.

“Unfortunately this kind of things happen every summer; sometimes at Chelsea, sometimes at Liverpool, City, Arsenal, Bournemouth, Newcastle.

“All clubs during the summer have some problems, unfortunately.

“But at the end every time it finishes with all of them happy. Hopefully for Conor, his situation is going to finish where the player, the club, the manager, all the people involved are going to be happy.”

PA