FIFA CLUB WORLD CUP THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT!

Enzo Maresca will be judged 12 months writes John Cross Gallas believes the boss has on his Chelsea progress in the next ...and title-winning Blues star William who he needs to take the next step

- by JOHN CROSS

ENZO MARESCA is facing a huge second season at Chelsea.

The expectation levels are so high at Stamford Bridge that internally Maresca's first year in charge is still only seen as being “on par.”

Chelsea won a European trophy with the Conference League success, qualified for the Champions League and, arguably most impressively of all, provided a sense of calm among the chaos. They would never admit it, but working for a club which has spent more than £1billion in the era of joint owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali takes a clear, calm head.

It is still regarded as something of a circus by people looking in from the outside and that is why Maresca's first 12 months deserve respect.

But, realistically, it is actually the next 12 upon which he will be judged. When Maresca took charge, the club were open about his being a two-year season with the Club World Cup sandwiched in the middle.

This is a manager still finding his way in his career. He gained a big reputation for working with young players while at Manchester City's academy.

And it says much about him that Liam Delap always wanted to join Chelsea because of his time working there under Maresca. He also steered Leicester to promotion but one of his problems at The King Power was he made himself rather difficult to like.

The football was not edge-of-the-seat stuff and he was rather aggressive and defensive. The Leicester fans never really took to him and it has been a similar story at Chelsea.