Enzo Maresca’s stunning decision bodes well for Chelsea’s future

Enzo Maresca seems to have got to grips with managing Chelsea, and his latest decision will really put a marker down for the present and future of the club.

The Italian has already given fans cause for concern with his backing of one under performing star, but as his treatment of Mykhailo Mudryk shows, the manager isn’t one for mincing his words or deferring to others when it comes to making decisions.

Perhaps that’s where he’s ‘winning’ in a job where Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and Mauricio Pochettino were all found wanting.

Enzo Maresca makes another key Chelsea decision

He simply believes wholeheartedly in everything he’s doing and won’t countenance outside input into his methods and ways of working.

Tough love is probably what Chelsea’s players have needed for a long, long time, and the sort of harsh honesty that Maresca displays is often what appears to win him respect.

Players know exactly where they stand and the Italian, from the outside at least, doesn’t seem to sugar coat anything and tells it exactly as it is.

That also means he has carte blanche to do as he sees fit, and all the while Chelsea are winning, why wouldn’t the club go with it.

Now, according to football.london, Maresca has made the stunning decision to select 17-year-old Shim Mheuka for the first-team squad for the Conference League group phase match against Panathinaikos.

The wonder kid has only recently signed his first professional contract with the club, and the fact that the manager is willing to bring him on board for such an important fixture shows that if you’re good enough, you’re old enough as far as Maresca is concerned.

That clearly bodes well for a team and a squad that have been below par for far too long, and means competition for places will continue to be healthy.