Maresca refuses to call £115 man “one of the best midfielders in the league”

Moises Caicedo was the standout player in Chelsea’s draw with Manchester United today, and his manager was happy to lavish praise on him for his performance today and this season in general.

The midfielder was everywhere, breaking up United attacks and covering huge spaces. He even scored a great goal to get his team back in the game.

Maresca was delighted with Caicedo, and pointed out it was only the vast £115m price tag on him which had stopped him getting praise before:

“Since we arrived, Moi is doing fantastic. I said during the week, the problem with Moi and Enzo [Fernandez] – these kind of players – is probably the big money the club paid. Everyone expects them to be the best but they are human and it is normal,” Maresca said in quotes picked up by Football.London.

“Moi is improving a lot. We are spending time with him and the rest to improve them.”

He’s mentioned this individual “extra work” with Caicedo and others before, and it’s clearly paying off. The system which pairs the former Brighton player with Romeo Lavia also seems to be helping him hugely too.

Maresca keeps Caicedo hungry and humble by pointing to the whole squad

When pressed on whether he had “one of the best midfielders in the league in Caicedo,” the manager deftly deflected the praise onto the rest of the squad, in textbook managerial fashion

“I think I have one of the best squads in the Premier League, I have no doubt about this. Moi belongs to the squad. Since I arrived, the first thing I said to the club is that I was in love with the squad and this squad is very good.”

It seems like we’ve got a good squad and a good coach. Now we need to get some more good results and this will be a good season.