New Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca is not exactly a fan of his team’s preseason tour of the United States. The Blues, like many of the top European teams, have scheduled various friendlies across America in recent weeks. The idea is to reap the financial benefits of playing in front of massive crowds, while also preparing for a grueling 2024/25 season.
“The real pre-season was the two weeks in Cobham and, to be honest, after when we go back,” said Maresca. Cobham is Chelsea’s training facility outside of London.
Nevertheless, Maresca has admitted that his club’s summer schedule is “a lot” to deal with. Chelsea began their USA summer tour back on July 24th in California. Then have since played three more matches before getting ready to complete the tour on Tuesday in Charlotte. In total, the Blues have traveled around 3,700 miles since initially arriving in the States. This immense travel in just two weeks does not include their overseas trip from London.
Along with travel, Enzo Maresca has also claimed that he has not been able to fully prepare for the friendlies. This apparently even includes not implementing certain tactics to his new players. “The ideal situation is when you have time to prepare for the game, but most of our matches were without this,” Maresca told reporters on Monday. “Some of the games we prepared with just video or a tactical board. But overall we tried to adapt.”
Maresca then even asserted that official preseason preparations for his team do not even necessarily include their Stateside tour. “The real preseason was the two weeks in Cobham and, to be honest, after when we go back,” continued the coach.
The coach’s comments could be seen as a way to deflect attention away from their performances on the tour. Chelsea has looked out of sync in most of their preseason matches so far. In fact, they needed a late goal in their opening game of the tour to salvage a draw against League One club Wrexham.
The Blues were then thoroughly thumped by Celtic 4-1 at Notre Dame Stadium. The match was 4-0 after the Scottish side scored twice in each half. However, Christopher Nkunku netted a late penalty to score Chelsea’s only goal of the game.
The west London side seemingly got back on track in Atlanta with a 3-0 win against Club America. Nevertheless, two of the goals scored in the matchup came from the penalty spot. They then suffered yet another heavy defeat against Manchester City in Columbus on Saturday. The reigning English champions had a 4-1 lead late in the match before Noni Madueke scored for Chelsea with just a minute left on the clock.
Not only has Chelsea received negative attention for their dismal USA tour, but they are also fielding questions over selling prized youth players. The Blues recently sanctioned the sale of third captain and academy graduate Conor Gallagher to Atletico Madrid in recent days. However, they have also sold former youth products Mason Mount, Lewis Hall, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Ian Maatsen, Callum Hudson-Odoi, and Billy Gilmour within the last year.
Enzo Maresca defended the moves by blaming current financial rules in England. “This is not Chelsea’s problem, these are the [PSR] rules,” stated the new coach. “All the clubs at this moment are compelled to sell players from the academy because of the rules. It’s all of the Premier League clubs’ problems.”
Despite the remarks, the Blues are essentially in a position to make player sales because they have overspent in recent seasons. In fact, Chelsea has spent over $1 billion on new players since new owner Todd Boehly arrived in the summer of 2022. As the club continues to splash the cash, they must offset this spending by selling players.
Not only has Chelsea overspent in the last two years, but they are essentially replacing former Blues youth products with other youngsters. For instance, recent reports suggest that Chelsea is close to signing 16-year-old Gremio prospect Gabriel Mec for around $26 million. The fee will take the West London club’s spending on teenagers since 2022 to about $385 million.
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