Jamie Carragher would be “very surprised” if Enzo Maresca remains Chelsea manager for the entire season ahead.
The Italian signed a five-year deal earlier this summer after the Blues paid former club Leicester around £9m for his services after the 44-year-old won the Championship title last season.
Chelsea owners are believed to view Maresca as having the qualities to become one of the Premier League’s leading bosses, in the mould of Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta – with the pair both having learned their trade as part of Pep Guardiola’s coaching staff.
Still, pre-season has proven difficult for Maresca, who has saw his side concede 12 goals in five games during their tour of the USA.
While summer friendlies may ultimately have no bearing on what is to come this season, Maresca has admitted he is still trying to get players out of the defensive habits they developed under Mauricio Pochettino last season.
“One of my first meetings with the squad was about the number of goals we conceded last year with the defensive line being very high. It is something that we are trying to work on,” he said after the 2-1 defeat to Real Madrid on Wednesday.
Carragher, who criticised the decision to let Pochettino leave after only season, told The Overlap on Sky Sports: “The way Chelsea’s pre-season has gone… they’ve got Man City first game of the season… I’ll be surprised if Maresca is still the manager come the end of the season, very surprised.”
The Sky Sports pundit also expressed a concern about Cole Palmer, who starred under Pochettino last season.
Carragher raised the idea that Maresca may struggle to yield quite as much out of the England international this season, albeit the Italian did work with Palmer in the Manchester City youth team before leaving for Leicester.
“My worry for Chelsea is that Pochettino deserves a lot of credit for how Palmer performed last season.
“No one expected that, not even Pep, otherwise he wouldn’t have sold him. So they might not have that Cole Palmer this season.
“I’m sure they will because I think he’s fantastic but a new manager has come in so it’s different.”
