The Premier League Side Preparing For New Era After Worrying Manager Links

The Premier League Side Preparing For New Era After Worrying Manager Links

On Monday, Juventus announced that manager Igor Tudor had been sacked - the Croatian had overseen a poor start to the season, good enough only to lead the Old Lady to 8th after eight games, and prior to his sacking, had taken the club on an eight-game winless streak, an unbecoming run of form for one of Italy’s greatest sides.

🚨⚪️⚫️ Igor Tudor has been personally informed about Juventus decision to sack him this morning.

Massimo Brambilla will be the interim coach ahead of club’s decision on new manager. pic.twitter.com/0wtcdPM5m8

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) October 27, 2025

This all sounds fair enough - Tudor deserved the sack, and Juventus’ reputation deserves a more reliable performer - but how does this link to a Premier League side?

Well, prepare yourselves, Chelsea fans, because while Juventus are linked with free agent and Serie A winner Luciano Spalletti and ex-Fiorentina boss Raffaele Palladino, Blues’ head coach Enzo Maresca has also featured in conversations over who should take the helm.

The Italian has been in charge of the London outfit for almost a year and a half now and, despite regular criticism, has certainly made big steps as Chelsea continue to build back towards the top of the game, highlighted by the Club World Cup and Europa Conference League trophies now residing in the Stamford Bridge trophy cabinet.

❗🇮🇹 According to @MatteMoretto, Enzo Maresca is being followed by Juventus. He's considered an option for the future. pic.twitter.com/wnKic41Cts

— Forza Juventus (@ForzaJuveEN) October 14, 2025

However, Maresca has been touted for the Juventus job before, and with Chelsea failing to make the quick progress the board so clearly desires - they sit eighth in the Premier League after a shock defeat to Sunderland - there is a distinct possibility that both Juve and Maresca see the possibility of a move as intriguing.

Would Maresca Suit Serie A?

Enzo Maresca’s football is virtually purpose-built for the Italian top flight. His patient, almost ponderous build-up is a classic trait of some of the great Italian sides, as the league is typically one of the most defensively robust divisions in world football.

As such, competing sides need to have their attacking movements fine-tuned down to the tightness of the laces on their boots, and the width of the hairband on their heads - Italian football has given birth to some of the game's greatest heads of hair over the years (I’m still jealous of Andrea Pirlo’s luscious mane).

Due to such a rigidly tactical orientation from sides throughout the league, Juventus would need to bring in an equally capable thinker in a bid to change the club's fortunes. These fortunes for the most part frustrated and disappointed Juve fans over the last five years or so, with many affiliated to the club still not used to their lack of competitiveness after such a dominant spell throughout the 2010s.

Maresca certainly ticks this box - his playing career saw him ply his trade across Italy’s top two divisions for over a decade, which included a four-year spell with Juventus, and during that time he faced off against some of the game’s most esteemed players and managers, picking up valuable tips and advice that likely contributed to his coaching style.

But while he would be an excellent fit for the league, it is less clear whether he suits Juventus as a club. After all, Juventus’ methods are not too dissimilar from current employers Chelsea - they expect an impassable defence, immediate results, and to produce exciting attacking football, something which Maresca has struggled with at the Blues already.

For Juve to choose the next coach, they must decide whether to commit to a coach for a longer-term project or a transitional coach to later, in the summer, go for a higher-profile coach like, for example, Enzo Maresca, who is highly regarded at Juventus (@MatteMoretto /… pic.twitter.com/kgmEirwtMg

— 🎥 The AJC 🏳️🏴 (@The_AJC_) October 27, 2025

The undeniable truth is that the job to turn Juventus around will require a decent amount of time - a season, and perhaps more - but both the fans and the board seem unwilling to accept that their team is not competitive as it is.

Maresca is very much a project coach, one to appoint when looking five years into the future. That is why Chelsea hired him last summer; they believed him capable of bringing the Blue Co. vision to life, and on top of that, they appointed him on a five-year contract, of which four years still remain, as well as an optional extension clause to give him an extra year.

Juventus do not appear to have anything as evolved as a long-term plan for the future - the very blood of the club pumps only with success, and with just one trophy (the Coppa Italia) in the last four years, things around the club are starting to stagnate. The club needs a fresh perspective, an immediate uptick in results, and virtually no transitional period. In other words, an almost impossible list of demands.

It Won’t Be Cheap

Speaking of unreasonable demands, Maresca’s long-term contract at Chelsea adds another problem to the mix - money. The very earliest his contract at the Bridge will expire is in 2029, and if that clause for an extra year is triggered, that is pushed back to 2030.

🚨 Enzo Maresca to Chelsea is HERE WE GO done. ☑️🇮🇹

Five-year contract until 2029.

(Source: @FabrizioRomano ) pic.twitter.com/YzF4tTTyQE

— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) May 28, 2024

So, if Juventus want Maresca that badly, they will need to pay a hefty compensation fee for the Italian; call it a transfer fee but for a manager.

It is rumoured that at the moment, this number sits at around £20 million, an eye-watering figure for a member of staff. Chelsea, of course, are no strangers to tall transfer fees - their colossal spending tally in recent years has not simply been limited to players on the pitch.

I wonder if Juventus will push for Maresca. 🤔

Personally, I won't let him go even if they are willing to pay €20m to Chelsea to release him.

— Vince™ (@Blue_Footy) October 27, 2025

Three of the top five manager compensation fees have been paid by the Blues: the clubs of Andre Villas-Boas in 2013 (£13.3 million from Porto), Graham Potter (£21.5 million from Brighton), and of course Maresca himself (£10 million from Leicester) all commanded insanely high sums to allow their coach to leave, and Chelsea have fallen into the trap of paying for it every single time.

However, the club are much less accustomed to allowing their managers to leave for other clubs in the middle of their tenure. In fact, the last Chelsea manager to leave the club without being sacked or as an interim coach was Glenn Hoddle, when he accepted the England job all the way back in 1996.

Happy birthday to Glenn Hoddle.

The signing of Ruud Gullit in 1995 was absolutely huge at the time - and I believe it's one of the most important signings of Chelsea's history, helping lay the foundations of our modern success. pic.twitter.com/8O7e3fDaHG

— TheBlueLamp (@TheBlueLampCFC) October 27, 2025

It is a remarkable fact that in the 29 years since, Chelsea have refused to let managers leave the club on anything other than the board’s terms, with all subsequent dugout generals either receiving the sack or coming in simply on an interim basis, and it indicates that should an offer come in for Maresca, it will more than likely be turned down even if the compensation fee is met, and perhaps even exceeded.

Who Could Take Over From Maresca?

In the unlikely event that Maresca does in fact leave, there are plenty of talented managerial candidates for Todd Boehly and co. to salivate over.

Andoni Iraola has already been linked with the Chelsea job, as his work at Bournemouth has rapidly led to recognition across Europe as one of the most tactically astute coaches around, despite working to a budget worth less than your great-granddad’s pension.

Justin Kluivert on Andoni Iraola:

"The driver of the bus is the coach, and he's driving a crazy route for us. Amazing driver, so we follow him."

[via Sky] pic.twitter.com/UoK0t9NIlq

— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) October 3, 2025

The likes of Zinedine Zidane, Joachim Löw, the aforementioned Spalletti, and Xavi Hernandez are all without jobs at the moment, just waiting for the right opportunity to present itself, and it is perfectly reasonable to imagine one of these taking over at either Chelsea or Juventus.

Even Como’s Cesc Fabregas has been mentioned across social media by Chelsea fans - after all, he is an ex-Blue and was part of two Premier League title-winning sides during his time in West London.

Now leading Como into a brave new era in Serie A - and doing a masterful job of it, might I add - he has shown himself to be an intelligent coach, both from a tactical and a man-management perspective. However, his relative lack of experience, combined with his part-ownership of ther Alpine club, could see him passed over in the unlikely event Maresca vacates the Chelsea dugout.

Would love to see Cesc Fabregas back at Chelsea one day.

pic.twitter.com/543pdKV70Q

— ChelsTransfer (@ChelsTransfer) October 16, 2025

Even then it may be hard to pry him away from the high-flying Serie A side – Juventus' fellow giants Inter Milan pursued the Spaniard, but the ex-Gunner and Barcelona metronome rejected them, so committed is he to the Como project.

There are countless other candidates who I haven’t even mentioned: Edin Terzic, Tiago Motta, Gareth Southgate – the list is endless - but with Chelsea being Chelsea, they would likely pass over all of these overqualified options in favour of an unproven coach plucked from mid-table in the Championship and thrust into the cauldron of the Premier League spotlight.

However, the point of this discussion was to debate whether Maresca would actually leave Chelsea, and given the facts above, I find it extremely unlikely.

Chelsea hired him to lead a long-term project, and whether he wants the Juventus job or not, he will know he is still obligated to do this. The combined factors of his first season success, the young squad he has helped to build, and his hefty long-term contract mean that while Juventus may well be showing an interest in him, it is far from guaranteed that the interest is mutual.

Nevertheless, it is certainly an unfolding story to keep an eye on, and we all know how my beloved Chelsea love to find an unexpected way into the headlines.