Mykhailo Mudryk, unwanted stars and racism row: How Enzo Maresca has handled Chelsea challenges

Life at Chelsea might have seemed pretty straightforward for Enzo Maresca so far, but the Mykhailo Mudryk drugs probe is just the latest in a line of potential pitfalls he has faced in his first six months as head coach.

With Chelsea breathing down the necks of Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table and already into the last-16 of the Europa Conference League ahead of their final group game against Shamrock Rovers on Thursday, there is plenty of on-pitch evidence of Maresca’s good work.

But add in some of the off-the-field issues he has navigated and his management of Chelsea’s senior stars and home-grown talent, and there is a case to be made for Maresca currently being the manager of the season.

Here, Telegraph Sport looks at how Maresca is dealing with the Mudryk situation and how he has impressively managed his way through other difficult situations so far this season.

Mykhailo Mudryk

Maresca did not try to dodge any questions over Mudryk after an ‘A’ sample showed traces of a banned substance. He answered everything that was thrown at him and reiterated his trust and support for the player.

“The club, the coaching staff and all the people that are inside the training ground, we support and we trust Misha,” said Maresca. “It’s also my duty to be in contact with him and me, the club, the players, the team-mates. We are all there. I spoke with him days ago.”

Asked if he believes Mudryk is innocent, Maresca answered: “We all believe that, then we see.”

The Italian did not look for any assistance from Chelsea’s director of communications to his left, when the doping scandal involving one of the clubs he played for, Juventus, was raised alongside the issue of Mudryk.

Maresca said that he had anticipated a more general question on whether he believed that football now is “cleaner” than in the Nineties, just before he joined Juve.

“I was waiting for this question,” said Maresca with a smile. “I think football was clean in that time and it’s clean now. So I don’t think there is a big difference between my time at Juventus and now. I think at that time it was clean, this time it’s clean.”

Enzo Fernandez

Maresca might have hoped for a honeymoon period when he was appointed Chelsea’s head coach and yet that immediately became impossible after accusations of racism and homophobia were levelled at midfielder Enzo Fernández.

Several members of the Chelsea squad unfollowed Fernández on social media and there was a very real threat of civil war breaking out at Stamford Bridge.

Maresca’s first-ever Chelsea press conference during the club’s pre-season tour of America was dominated by questions over Fernández, but the club and the head coach managed to get the situation under control relatively quickly.

Since then, Maresca’s management of Fernández has been excellent. The Argentine was dropped for some key games, but he was reinstated at just the right time and finally looks to have a defined role in the Chelsea team that has resulted in him scoring three goals in his past five appearances.

Asked how he has managed the squad through the bumps in the road so far, Maresca said: “I just try to convince the players that the only side that we can decide is the pitch side because then everything happens around the pitch. Sometimes we cannot control that, as you said, the Enzo one or the other kind of things.

“But especially to convince the players that if we need to solve things outside of the pitch, it’s my job to do it, not their job. They have to be focused on the game. Day-by-day they have to work hard and try to win games as much as we can. Then the rest is about the club, it’s about me, how to try to solve this kind of problem that you just said now.”

Senior stars

It was hours before the first Premier League game of the season that Raheem Sterling and his advisors released a statement seeking “clarity” on his situation after it emerged he had been left out of Chelsea’s match-day squad. Maresca could not have been much clearer – the forward was not part of his plans and was not suitable to his style.

Chelsea lost that first game to Manchester City and Maresca’s decision could easily have backfired. But he has been rewarded for having the courage of his convictions, as Chelsea have not looked back and Sterling has spent more time on the substitutes’ bench than on the pitch for Arsenal, where he is spending the season on loan.

Ben Chilwell is another senior star – a Champions League winner with Chelsea, no less – who Maresca decided did not fit his style. Chilwell was even left out of the Europa Conference League squad, which looked a risky move, but Marc Cucurella has flourished under Maresca as an inverted left-back and Renato Veiga has benefited from the playing time he has been given in Europe.

Summer signing Tosin Adarabioyo could have been frustrated by Maresca’s preference for Wesley Fofana and Levi Colwill in the centre of defence before Fofana suffered an injury, but the 27-year-old has praised the man-management of his head coach.

“He knows how to manage each player and it’s amazing that we’re in so many competitions because he’s able to give us all minutes and make us all feel important,” said Tosin. “He’s easy to have a chat with. He can tell what each individual needs, so whether you need an arm around you, whether you need a rollocking. He knows the right moment, when to do that.”

Impatient young talent

News of a contract stand-off between Chelsea and talented teenager Josh Acheampong sent shivers down the spines of fans who had been sorry to see academy products Mason Mount and Conor Gallagher leave in successive summers.

Acheampong was told he would not play at the height of the dispute, but Maresca managed to help the club convince the defender that he would get opportunities at Stamford Bridge and Chelsea announced on Wednesday that the 18-year-old has signed a new contract until 2029.

Acheampong will have no doubt been pleased to hear Maresca suggesting that he would prefer to keep the player around his first-team squad than send him on loan in January.

“We are all convinced and sure that Josh can be a great player for this club,” said Maresca. “My personal opinion is that he has to stay close to us. So as much as we can keep him here, it’s much better.”

There was also encouragement for another Chelsea youngster, 18-year-old winger Tyrique George, as Maresca said: “For sure, Tyrique is going to get minutes and we are going to try to help him to improve day-by-day because now he’s working with us every day, him and Josh, and to allow them to get minutes with us in the Premier League.”