Sawt Falasteen - Maresca says Chelsea rebuild 'ahead' of schedule

Maresca was hired from Leicester in July to replace Mauricio Pochettino, who left Stamford Bridge after only one season in charge.

Pochettino was the latest Chelsea boss to fall out of favour with co-owner Toddy Boehly, who had previously sacked Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter since buying the west London team in 2022.

Boehly has splashed out well over £1 billion ($1.3 billion) on new signings during his turbulent reign, with little return on that eye-watering investment.

The spending has continued under Maresca, who led Leicester to promotion from the Championship last term, as Pedro Neto and Joao Felix headlined Chelsea's summer recruitment drive.

Several big names, including Raheem Sterling and Ben Chilwell, have been deemed surplus to requirements by Maresca as he looks to improve a side that finished sixth in the Premier League under Pochettino and lost the League Cup final to Liverpool.

Yet the Italian is convinced Chelsea, who made it through to the Europa Conference League group stage despite a 2-1 second leg defeat by Servette on Thursday, have made good progress under his management.

"I'm very happy at the moment. It's less than two months still. I'm very happy. In my expectation we are ahead, so I am very happy about this," he said.

"And the good thing is we have just started, so we have many things that we need to improve, but we are in the right direction."

England forward Cole Palmer will be key to Maresca's hopes of quickly transforming Chelsea into contenders for a top four finish.

The 22-year-old scored 25 goals for Chelsea last season following his surprise move from Manchester City.

He earned a place in Gareth Southgate's England squad for Euro 2024, where he further enhanced his blossoming reputation with some impact substitute appearances.

Palmer heads into Sunday's Premier League clash with Crystal Palace having opened his account in last weekend's 6-2 demolition of Wolves at Molineux.

Maresca believes Palmer can get even better if he ignores the mounting expectations on him.

"I've been very impressed with Cole, even if I already know him very well. It's never easy to repeat the same numbers as last year in terms of goals and assists," Maresca said.

"But I think the most important thing for Cole is to enjoy football, to relax, don't feel pressure on his shoulders.

"He has to enjoy every day, training and games, and then goals and assists, they're going to come, for sure."

G.AbuGhazaleh--SF-PST