“He is admired by other clubs” – Ornstein opens the door for Sarri style move by Chelsea | OneFootball

Chelsea go into this afternoon’s game against Fulham knowing that their season is really on the line.

Their Champions League hopes hang by a thread – lose today and it’s all over. Even a win only just keeps us in the race. The gradual collapse of our form has meant rising pressure on manager Enzo Maresca, and many fans object to his style of football as much as the results.

Those supporters won’t have been delighted to hear the update from David Ornstein earlier today which reinforced that the Italian coach’s position is safe regardless of our finishing position:

“Maresca’s position appears to be safe for now. He’s on a 5 year contract with the option of a 6th. He’s a younger manager, and with the Club World Cup that Chelsea are competing in, a busy summer. The new Premier League season around the corner, I would expect him to not be evaluated until the end of his second year at Chelsea,” the top insider pointed out to NBC Sport.

“Other clubs” keen on Chelsea coach

That’s the line we always expect to hear. We’d imagine we heard similar things a year ago about Mauricio Pochettino. However there was one really interesting line thrown in there by Ornstein:

“They want to build with him. He’s got a close working relationship with the sporting hierarchy at Stamford Bridge. He’ll be involved in these recruitment decisions. He is admired by other clubs actually, Enzo Maresca, and Chelsea will want to work with him and to succeed in collaboration.”

The idea that other teams are admiring his work opens up the possibility of Chelsea doing what they did with Maurizio Sarri in 2019 – disguising their own mistake in appointing a coach by letting another team swoop in and take them, saving face and saving money in sacking them.