Enzo Maresca did a really in depth interview with Sky Sports ahead of the game against Arsenal at the weekend, with tons of interesting content after he completed his first quarter season as Chelsea boss.
One interesting comparison he made was between his own journey to England as a young player to play at West Brom long, long ago, and the situation his youthful group have now. He painted a picture of some similarities and some differences.
You can see the Chelsea coach speaking in the clip embedded here, with this answer coming after 3 minutes:
Maresca on players not feeling price tag pressure
While Maresca’s move to the Midlands was low key, the youngsters he coaches have vast price tags associated with them, something he thinks can hold them back:
“I was 18, quite young like them. But I think it’s a bit different, 25 years ago in Birmingham, it’s a bit different to now, in London,” the coach explained.
“But both situations you have good things, things you can learn. In this moment probably the price around the players are huge, so they can feel the responsibility about the price, which is something they don’t need to feel, because they need to enjoy and be happy playing football. Not thinking about other things.”
It’s certainly something which has been cited a lot when talking about someone like Mykhailo Mudryk, who came to Chelsea with a vast transfer fee and very little previous experience. Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez cost even more, but they at least had a solid senior career established already. Marc Cucurella himself mentioned it as an issue.
Let’s hope Maresca’s personal experience can help him coach his young players through what could otherwise be a tricky time in their careers as they look to adapt.
