Chelsea are planning to bring Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola back in the “near future”, with manager Enzo Maresca currently on “thin ice”, according to reports.
After back-to-back Premier League wins over Liverpool and Nottingham Forest earlier this month, Maresca’s side slumped again at the weekend, losing 2-1 at home to newly promoted Sunderland.
As a result, Chelsea fell to 9th place in the Premier League, with Manchester United and others rising to the top.
The performance will put pressure on Maresca again as Chelsea face London rivals Tottenham in a tough match in their next Premier League match on Saturday.
There was also speculation that Maresca was under some pressure from the board after picking up one point from three Premier League games against Brentford, Man United and Brighton in September.
At the end of September, manager Fabrizio Romano gave an update on Maresca’s future, saying: “There were a lot of questions about Chelsea’s performance, there were a lot of questions about what was going on with Enzo Maresca and Chelsea. My understanding is that Chelsea have full confidence in Enzo Maresca. The red card contributed to Chelsea’s defeat. That’s very clear.”
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“That’s what the numbers say, and this is why Chelsea have no doubts about Enzo Maresca and have full confidence in the manager. They believe he is the right person for this project. That’s why Chelsea will continue to protect, support and support the manager.”
“So if you guys ask me about the future of Maresca, Chelsea, we are used to it. They always review the season at the end of the season. So Chelsea, with this new ownership in recent years, have not been very fond of making changes during the season, only if things get really bad.”
“But we also saw, for example with Pochettino, that they reviewed the situation at the end of the season in 2024 and then decided to appoint Enzo Maresca. So the idea is that Chelsea always review the situation at the end of the season, but Chelsea are not going to ignore the Enzo Maresca situation in the slightest.”
“Right now they are continuing to protect the manager. So Maresca is 100% focused and 100% sure that Chelsea can do important things this season. But it will take time. There are new players to integrate, there are also a lot of young players. So it’s not something that will happen immediately, but it’s certainly true that Chelsea will continue to cooperate and support Enzo Maresca.”
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But now X’s reliable source claims that Chelsea are lining up Maresca “on thin ice” between some Blues officials and Iraola, who led Bournemouth to second place in the Premier League.
The account, which describes itself as a “team of five elite reporters,” wrote: “Exclusive.” We understand that @ChelseaFC are planning to bring Andoni Iraola to the club in the near future.
“They believe Andoni Iraola will become one of the leading managers in world football. Sources say Enzo Maresca is on thin ice with #CFC officials.
