Chelsea will have to pay Enzo Maresca’s release clause if they want to hire the Leicester City boss.
The Blues are searching for a new manager after Mauricio Pochettino‘s exit and Enzo Maresca is one name that is thought to be at the top of their list.
In fact, according to Gianluca Di Marzio, the Italian is the main candidate for the Chelsea job.
Maresca has just won Leicester promotion back to the Premier League, so he will be managing in the top flight next season.
Now it is just a matter of whether that will be at the King Power Stadium or Stamford Bridge.
How much will Chelsea need to pay to get Enzo Maresca out of Leicester?
Maresca will not be leaving Leicester for free this summer.
According to the reliable Fabrizio Romano, the 44-year-old has a release clause.
The Italian journalist has claimed that the release clause is set at around £7/8m, which is not a lot of money for a club like Chelsea.
It makes Maresca moving to west London a real possibility.
Enzo Maresca’s tactics
Maresca mostly used the formations 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 this season, which is similar to what Pochettino did at Chelsea.
Under Maresca, Leicester were a dominant team, averaging 62.2% ball possession in the Championship, according to WhoScored. Only Southampton recorded a higher average.
He could be quite a good fit for Chelsea, but the fact that Maresca had arguably the strongest squad in the division and has not been a manager for too long cannot be overlooked.
The former Manchester City assistant coach was expected to do well this term given what he had at his disposal.
It is such a small sample size when it comes to Maresca. He needs to do more before being in contention for a job like the Chelsea one. However, it looks like the club are content with what they have seen from the Leicester manager, so this could yet happen.