Enzo Maresca

ENZO MARESCA has a wealth of talent at his disposal at Stamford Bridge, with three Cobham starlets already working their way towards first-team involvement.

After starring during the international break for England‘s youth teams, 16-year-old Ryan Kavuma-McQueen and 17-year-old Shim Mheuka are two attackers the Italian boss is keen to have available for selection going forward.

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Mheuka, who made his Premier League and European debuts for the senior team last season, scored five goals in three games for the Young Lions, while winger Kavuma-McQueen made headlines with a four-goal haul against Germany‘s under-17s.

With Cole Palmer and Liam Delap both injured, there may be a spot for these youngsters sooner than anticipated, especially when the Blues travel to Lincoln in the Carabao Cup on 24th September, with Marc Guiu cup-tied for that game.

Maresca opened up in his Friday press conference on the impressive pair: “They are both in my plans, for sure. Shimmy was already with us and played some games for us last year. Ryan is more of a winger.

“I was watching when Ryan scored four goals against Germany, so I was very impressed, but I already knew him. One of my staff is always watching the youth team; they told me he was very good.

I’ve always said with young players, you have to be calm because they can change every day. For sure, though, he is one of the players we are looking at.”

Kavuma-McQueen is incredibly highly rated by those involved in the Chelsea youth system, and the Blues are keen for him not to become the next Rio Ngumoha, who joined Liverpool in pursuit of first-team opportunities he has now been granted.

That’s why, after fighting off interest from Liverpool and Barcelona for his signature, they will be thrilled that he is set to sign his first professional contract with the club when he turns 17 on New Year’s Day 2026.

While Maresca was left impressed by the two goal-scoring Brits at his disposal, he admitted he has a favourite when it comes to Blues’ youngsters.

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The Chelsea boss isn’t necessarily known for his enthusiasm in press conferences, but when asked about youngster Reggie Walsh, he was warmth personified with a smile plastered across his face.

Walsh, 16, has been training with the first team and was one of a record-breaking eight youngsters to be given a first team shot last season, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him get more chances this year with the Blues already facing injuries to some of their key midfielders.

Maresca added: “I like all the academy guys, but Reggie is the one I like more than the rest, he’s my favourite.

“He’s very good, but because they are from the academy, we need to protect them.

“We already have the youngest squad in Premier League history, and last year we gave so many debuts to academy players. But Reggie is doing things that I demand of other players, and does them without me asking him to. That’s why I love Reggie.”

While Brentford may come too soon for the Cobham trio, they are all likely to feature when the Chelsea U21’s take on Ipswich next Saturday at Kingsmeadow.

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CHELSEA boss Enzo Maresca wanted another left winger, and the club have given him Alejandro Garnacho.

But is the Argentinian, with his inconsistency on the field and indiscipline off it, the right option?

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Garnacho, whose signing is set to be confirmed today after he watched the Blues take on Fulham, undoubtedly has bags of potential.

Aged 21, he has plenty of time to fulfil it.

At a fee of £40m, in a window where players have been going for really silly money, he does not represent a massive risk.

The question is whether Garnacho is better than what Chelsea already have or what they have let go in the course of an incredible summer of buying and selling.

Garnacho is set to duke it out with fellow new arrival Jamie Gittens to be Maresca’s first choice down the left.

The Blues boss said: “They are quite similar.

“When we are looking for a winger, we like wingers who are good in one-v-one, they are quite vertical, aggressive, they can attack, they can create something.

“Jamie is that profile. If Garnacho arrives, we will see.”

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Garnacho brings more competition for places in Chelsea’s well-stocked attack.

But when you compare his stats for last season to those of Gittens, it is not much of a contest.

Across most of the important categories, Gittens was better: goals, assists, dribbles, chance conversion and so on.

There are two points to consider, however. Firstly, Gittens had a great time in front of goal last season, outperforming his expected goals significantly.

Meanwhile Garnacho had a particularly bad time when it came to converting big chances.

Secondly, there is the Jadon Sancho factor.

While Sancho was playing for Borussia Dortmund – as Gittens was last season – the then England manager Gareth Southgate was asked frequently about his form and whether he deserved more game time.

Without ever actually saying, “Lads, it’s the Bundesliga”, Southgate made it pretty clear that doing well in Germany’s top flight was one thing, but reproducing that form in the Premier League and at international level was quite another.

Maresca was not impressed with Gittens’ PL debut against Crystal Palace, hooking him after 54 minutes and putting him on the bench for the 5-1 thrashing of West Ham.

Yet it would be harsh to judge Gittens so soon.

Interestingly, too, Sancho’s stats while he was on loan at Chelsea last season stand up pretty well to Garnacho’s for United in some categories.

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Sancho seemed to enjoy being away from the toxicity of Old Trafford and Maresca said: “We had Jadon with us and he had a very good season.

“Again, if we finish top four and we achieve what we achieved, it’s also because of Jadon.

“Now with Garnacho, in case [if] he will arrive, we will see.”

That phrase again – we will see.

Noni Madueke, sold to Arsenal by the Blues earlier this summer, outperformed both Sancho and Garnacho last season.

Madueke, of course, plays primarily as a right winger. But on output alone, Chelsea seem to have got rid of a more potent attacking player than Garnacho.

And looking at Pedro Neto’s numbers, you wonder whether the Blues would have been better keeping Madueke.

Garnacho’s statistics for United in 2023/4 were in many cases better than in 2024/5, but not to a spectacular degree.

The Argentinian has it all to prove on the pitch.

He will also need to be careful off it.

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Garnacho infuriated United this summer with his habit of sending not-very-subtle messages of defiance through social media.

The Blues boss said: “We are in an era where I look like the strange one, because I don’t use social networks.

“I have a company that runs my Instagram but I don’t use it. I look strange because I don’t use it.

“But the normal situation in this era is that everyone uses it. I’m not going to tell them, don’t use that.

“First of all, because they have family around them that can give them advice.

“I have four kids and try to give them advice.

“But if I have to give 25 more players advice, it’s too complicated.

“Anyone can do what they want, anyone can say what they want, but in the end it’s a matter of respect.”

Garnacho may find Maresca and Chelsea intolerant of mischief-making on social media and other disruptive behaviour.

And he only has to look at the turnover of players at Stamford Bridge to know what will happen if he does not deliver.

CHELSEA boss Enzo Maresca loves to celebrate with a cigar – but more than anything he wishes he could have a smoke with a team-mate who died in horrific circumstances.

Maresca has enjoyed plenty of recent success, guiding the Blues to glory in the Conference League and Club World Cup.

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After the latter, the Blues boss enjoyed one of his favourite Portagas 2 cigars, the brand he used to smoke with Manchester City head coach Pep Guardiola when they were marking City’s success.

But when Maresca was asked to name the football personality he would most like to one of his favourite Portagas No 2 cigars with, the Italian gave a poignant answer – Antonio Puerta, who died aged 22 after suffering a cardiac arrest on the field.

Maresca told Men in Blazers: “That’s a very good question. I will tell you, when I was 25, 26, I lost a team-mate inside the pitch. So if I could, I would like a cigar with him.”

Midfielder Maresca had four seasons at Sevilla but his third campaign started in tragic fashion.

The Italian was on the field when, just 35 minutes into the opening game of the 2007/8 season – at home against Getafe – Puerta suffered a cardiac arrest.

After the wing-back collapsed and lost consciousness in the penalty area, team-mates and medical staff rushed to his aid.

Puerta recovered enough to walk to the dressing room but collapsed again there.

He was resuscitated and rushed to hospital, where he had to receive more life-saving resuscitation.

But Puerta died three days later, on August 28, because of multiple organ failure and irreversible brain damage.

It emerged that he had an incurable hereditary heart disease called arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy.

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Puerta’s death shocked Spanish football and the wider world.

His girlfriend was expecting their first child at the time of his death.

When Puerta passed away, Maresca and the rest of the Seville squad were already in Greece for a Champions League qualifier against AEK Athens.

Maresca, who played for Greek side Olympiakos later in his career, spoke about the tragedy when Chelsea went to Athens in October 2024 for a Conference League game against Panathinaikos.

Maresca said: “In terms of the season I spent here in Greece, for me it was very good with Olympiakos, a big rival with Panathinaikos. But unfortunately I lost a friend on the pitch when I was at Seville.

“The first game we played after that, we were already in Athens and just on that day, one of our team-mates passed away in Antonio Puerta.

“So it is a mixed feeling. The season in Athens was fantastic. But every time I come back here I am a little bit sad.”

The Champions League game against AEK, which had been scheduled for the evening of the day Puerta died, was postponed.

When Sevilla faced AC Milan in the Uefa Super Cup on August 31, all 22 players had the name Puerta on the back of their shirts.

Sergio Ramos, who had come through the Sevilla academy and into the first team with Puerta, wore T-shirts in memory of Puerta after Spain’s triumphs at Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup.

Jesus Navas, who was on the field on the day Puerta collapse, made the same gesture after the 2010 World Cup final.

In 2010, Sevilla unveiled a statue of Puerta at their training ground.

Watch the full Men in Blazers interview with Enzo Maresca here.

CHELSEA showed that pre-season might be merely a formality as they rolled over AC Milan by four goals to one, lifting the coveted VisitMalta Weekender trophy for the second time in three days.

The Blues have made two supposedly decent teams look like amateurs, in what were hardly tough tests for Enzo Maresca’s young team before playing Crystal Palace in the opening game of their season.

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New signing Jamie Gittens announced himself to the world against AC Milan for Borussia Dortmund two seasons ago, who may well be his favourite opponents as he gave their defence, Yunus Musah in particular, a torrid time today.

The electric Englishman was perhaps overshadowed by Estevao against Bayer Leverkusen, but put in a performance today that showed he could nutmeg a mermaid in a telephone box if ever put to the test.

It was his direct running and trickery that won the free-kick for Chelsea to open the scoring through an Andrei Coubis own goal on the stroke of the 5th minute, after a calamitous mix-up between the Italian and Mike Maignan in the Milan goal.

Moments later and Joao Pedro and Pedro Neto combined for the Brazilian to head home his fifth goal in five games.

A driving run from Neto down the right was followed by an inch perfect cross, met by a header that could’ve ripped a hole in the net to add Chelsea’s second in as many minutes.

He’s proving exceptional value for his £60m fee.

The Blues continued to dominate until the half-time whistle, helped out on the way by Milan defender Andrei Coubis’ afternoon going from bad to worse with a straight red card for bringing down Joao Pedro who was through on goal.

The Italian booted a water bottle as he stormed down the tunnel, and rightly so, you may not see a worse 17 minutes at Stamford Bridge this season than that.

Cole Palmer went close twice from first-half free-kicks, one that left the post rattling and another which left former Chelsea target Mike Maignan being ridiculed as a ‘s*** Robert Sanchez’.

The Blues’ number ten almost went on to recreate Gus Poyet’s famous 1999 ‘scissor volley’ minutes later, but his effort just sailed over the bar.

Unsurprisingly, it was Rafael Leao who lead the AC Milan charge.

He was denied by Robert Sanchez, Tosin and Reece James before finally beating the Spanish stopper, only to see the offside flag raised on the near side.

Half-time brought the introduction of six-time Champions League winner, Ballon D’or winner and Swansea part-owner Luka Modric into the middle for Milan.

The Croatian was left chasing the shadows of Chelsea’s young and energetic midfield throughout the second half, his only highlight being a tame shot claimed by Robert Sanchez. 

After the disastrous news that future captain Levi Colwill required surgery on an ACL injury, Enzo Maresca will have winced as Trevoh Chalobah was forced off with a knock in the 56th minute and replaced by Josh Acheampong,

Milan grew into the game in the second half, and simply had to score when Yunus Musah rolled the ball past Robert Sanchez before Reece James arrived on the scene to put that fire out.

Expectedly, a flurry of Chelsea changes came with 30 minutes to go, and unsurprisingly it was teenage prodigy Estevao replacing Cole Palmer that drew the biggest cheer at Stamford Bridge.

It took the 18-year-old exactly five minutes to be involved in another Chelsea goal, as he was brought down inside the box, allowing Delap to rifle a penalty into the bottom left corner.

The rest of his touches brought an expectant gasp out of everyone in the stadium, as he danced and dazzled with fancy footwork in front of the Matthew Harding stand.

AC Milan got a consolation goal, courtesy of Youssaf Fofana who smashed the ball past Robert Sanchez at the near post with 20 minutes to go, assisted by Alexis Saelemaekers.

Just when fans thought that would be game, set, and match, Chelsea added a fourth and final goal.

Andrey Santos’ perfectly weighted ball into the path of Liam Delap allowed the English striker to make it a brace with a fine finish into the bottom left corner.