We ran a 2024–2025 season simulation with Chelsea led by Enzo Maresca to see what would happen to the Blues the following year.
After Mauricio Pochettino departs, Leicester City manager Enzo Maresca is anticipated to become Chelsea’s head coach.
Even though Chelsea improved in the second half of the season—losing just once in their final 15 league games and taking sixth place in the Premier League—Pochettino departed the club before the following season by mutual consent after just one season. Maresca will take over in the dugout at Stamford Bridge, while a few managers have been linked to the Chelsea role.
Last summer, the 44-year-old Spanish manager joined Leicester City after serving as assistant manager at Manchester City. He helped the Foxes win the Championship and return to the Premier League.
Maresca will sign a five-year contract to join Chelsea, according to football.london. With Maresca leading the team, how might Chelsea fare in the upcoming campaign? Let’s examine this.
Chelsea’s 2023/24 season simulated with Enzo Maresca
We moved Enzo Maresca to Chelsea using Football Manager 2024 in order to set up this simulation, and then we simulated the 2024–2025 season.
That is what took place. During the summer transfer window, Maresca brought in two players: Michael Olise from Crystal Palace and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall from Leicester City. After Maresca arrived, Conor Gallagher left the team to join Spurs, but the Englishman wasn’t a huge loss. In the 2024–25 season simulation,
Dewsbury–Hall made the fourth most appearances, demonstrating his excellent signing. With 17 goals and seven assists in all competitions, Cole Palmer was the most capped player. Reece James and Olise both had great seasons, with James being the only one to stay healthy the entire time.
Under Maresca, Christopher Nkunku appeared in 37 games for the Blues and finished the season with 18 goals, which ranked him as the team’s leading scorer.
Olise averaged the best rating per ninety minutes (7.38), while Enzo Fernandez was the top assister with 13. Football Manager 2024 assembled an all-around greatest Chelsea XI at the end of the season based on stats, performances, and other factors.
This is how it appeared: The whole Chelsea starting lineup (4-3-3) is as follows: Petrovic; James, Disasi, Fofana, Chilwell; Caicedo, Fernandez, Dewsbury-Hall; Olise, Nkunku, Palmer.
Palmer started on the left of the offensive three in Maresca’s best lineup, which was built up in a 4-3-3 so that Olise could play on the right. In midfield, Dewsbury-
Hall partnered with Fernandez and Moises Caicedo, while the preferred center-back duo was Wesley Fofana and Levi Colwill. Under Maresca, Chelsea got off to a great start, and the Blues’ lack of injury concerns is a major plus.
However, a dismal finish to the season cost the Blues some crucial points and prevented them from qualifying for the Champions League the next year.
Chelsea finished the season with 69 points, one less than Manchester United in fourth place, after 20 wins, nine draws, and nine losses. The Blues finished in fifth place, which is still an improvement over the 2023–24 campaign, after only one of their last five games saw them fall down the standings.
Maresca’s side were knocked out of the Carabao Cup in the third round after a 2-1 loss to Liverpool, and they almost picked up a trophy in his debut season, but a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal saw them miss out on the FA Cup in the final.
