Maresca is the fifth manager of the new post-Roman Abramovich regime, including Thomas Tuchel who was the sanctioned Russian’s final appointment. Pochettino followed Graham Potter and then caretaker Frank Lampard.
The club’s owners want to challenge for the Premier League as well as the domestic cups, the Uefa Europa League Conference, for which Chelsea have qualified and the Fifa Club World Cup. The 2020 Champions League triumph qualified them for the new extended format of the Club World Cup in June and July next year. Ultimately the club want to be back as a staple of the Champions League, as they were under two decades of Abramovich’s ownership.
Maresca, 44, will bring at least six staff with him from Leicester. They include the former Chelsea goalkeeper and assistant manager, Willy Caballero; coach Danny Walker; goalkeeper coach Michele de Bernardin; fitness coach Marcos Alvarez and first-team analyst Javier Molina Caballero. Maresca will also bring assistant Roberto Vitiello to work on bringing young players from the academy to the first team.