Juventus are on the lookout for a new manager following Igor Tudor's sacking this week with Luciano Spalletti expected to take over. However, Enzo Maresca, who was on the Juventus books between 2000 and 2004, has been linked with the vacant managerial role in Turin. Chelsea, though, won't sanction his exit at this stage of the season as the Blues look to add to their recent silverware under the Italian.
AFPMaresca has impressed at Chelsea
Maresca was appointed as Blues boss in 2024 as Chelsea turned to the Italian following Mauricio Pochettino's Stamford Bridge exit. The Argentine succeeded Frank Lampard in west London in 2023 yet was relieved of his duties after just 12 months.
The 45-year-old Italian was named Chelsea head coach last year after guiding Leicester back to the Premier League in his debut season in the Midlands. And Maresca enjoyed plenty of success in his first campaign in the capital. He guided Chelsea to the Conference League in May as the Blues battered Real Betis 4-1 in Poland. And they followed up continental success with the Club World Cup over the summer in the U.S. as the capital side eased past Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain.
AdvertisementChelsea boss a Spalletti alternative?
Maresca's performances didn't go unnoticed, either, with the former midfielder a reported target for Juventus. The Old Lady made the decision to sack Tudor on Monday following a 1-0 loss to Lazio, the Croat only taking over in Turin back in March following Thiago Motta's exit. Defeat to the capital side extended their winless run to eight matches, while the Serie A powerhouse had failed to score in the previous four.
Massimo Brambilla, who oversees the club's reserve team, Juventus Next Gen, in Serie C, took interim charge for Juventus' game against Udinese on Wednesday evening. Goals from Dusan Vlahovic, Federico Gatti and Kenan Yildiz confirmed a 3-1 win as Juve got back to winning ways.
Spalletti is expected to take over on a permanent basis sooner rather than later as the Bianconeri look to rescue their season. Spalletti has been out of work since leaving his role as Italy head coach back in June and had previously guided Napoli to the Scudetto in 2023.
AFPNo chance of Maresca leaving Chelsea
However, despite rumours of Juventus pursuing Maresca, the Chelsea boss won't be returning to Italy, at least according to a report in the . "Chelsea have received no approach from Juventus despite previous reports in Italy suggesting Maresca was a candidate after the sacking of Igor Tudor as head coach on Monday," the report on Wednesday started.
"Nor would the Blues have welcomed one as they have no interest in a mid-season managerial change, feeling such a significant shift does more bad than good. Luciano Spalletti is expected to become the new Juve boss instead."
And Spalletti added fuel to the fire on Tuesday as he praised Juventus, saying: "Juventus are a great club with a great history. Everyone would gladly coach Juventus."
'If you want to be up there you need the consistency'
Chelsea will hope that talk of Maresca taking over at Juventus won't derail the club as they look to add further silverware to the trophy cabinet in his second season at Stamford Bridge. Maresca could only watch on as the Blues fell to a 2-1 loss to Sunderland on Saturday afternoon, a result that ended the Blues' four-game winning run.
And after the defeat to the Black Cats, Maresca admitted that the club need to be more consistent if they are to challenge for top honours. "If you want to be up there you need the consistency," Maresca started.
"We won four in a row and yesterday we could have shown that, but because we lost points we didn’t show that. If we can have that level and this level, probably it is better to have something in between, to be consistent always in the same way, rather than like this. But I think overall, since we started, we have performed much better compared to Saturday’s game.
"Before this game we had exactly the same points as last year after eight games, but we dropped points yesterday. But we are still in October, we need to improve many things, and see where we are in March, April, May."
