Enzo Maresca has once again reiterated that no one at Chelsea has told him he must finish in the top four this season.
Maresca replaced Mauricio Pochettino in the summer after guiding Leicester to the Championship title last season and recently revealed he had no doubts about taking the job.
The 44-year-old has made a good start to life with the Blues and they currently sit fifth, just a point behind Arsenal after the first nine games.
Nobody at Chelsea has told Maresca he must finish in the top four
There’s still a long way to go and despite the good start the real test will be whether Chelsea can be consistent throughout the campaign, something they have struggled to do over the past two seasons.
The Blues need to get back into the Champions League, but with players like Cole Palmer in their ranks who’s been described as a future Ballon d’Or winner by Gianfranco Zola it’s more than possible.
Maresca has previously said no one at the club has told him he must finish in the top four and speaking ahead of Wednesday’s Carabao Cup tie against Newcastle he reiterated the same thing.
“I already said that the club never mentioned anything about top four,” he told his pre-match press conference.
“They always said the target and idea is to build something important for four or five years. We work everyday to reach something important. We try to do our best.”
Everyone knows that Chelsea’s project is long term, but that doesn’t mean the short term can be ignored and the Blues can’t afford from both a financial and football standpoint to go a third year without being in the Champions League.
Whilst it’s important to build and see signs of progress there still needs to be targets and if Maresca’s telling the truth, and there’s reason to doubt him, it’s really strange the club seemingly haven’t set that as a target.
