Football Manager 2024 has predicted a fascinating 2024/25 season for Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca.
The upcoming campaign will be Maresca’s first in charge at Stamford Bridge after replacing Mauricio Pochettino earlier this summer.
Pochettino’s side ended the previous season strongly but it was an overall disappointment, having lost the EFL Cup final to an injury-riddled Liverpool side and finishing sixth in the Premier League.
Blues fans were divided over the former Tottenham man’s departure but seemed to share the same opinion on his replacement – and it was not positive.
That is because Chelsea supporters are used to seeing high-profile managers, which Maresca is not, but that does not mean he cannot succeed at the West London club.
The Chelsea Chronicle has used Football Manager 2024 to simulate the Italian’s debut season, including his transfer market activity and Europa Conference League journey.
Football Manager predicts Chelsea’s transfer business
Transfers IN
Chelsea have already signed Tosin Adarabioyo, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Omari Kellyman and Marc Guiu in the summer transfer window. Maresca’s side clearly recognised that they already had a bloated squad and only made two further additions.
The first signing was central midfielder Andre, who has been heavily linked with Liverpool and Fulham in real life, for a fee of £21 million. The Brazilian performs best as a ‘number six’ on Football Manager, due to his high marking, positioning and stamina attributes.
Maresca’s other addition was Sunderland’s Abdoullah Ba in a £12m deal. He is a tricky, attack-minded midfielder who the Chelsea boss would have come up against in his time at Leicester.
Transfers OUT
Chelsea’s biggest sale of the summer was Romelu Lukaku to Saudi Pro League club Al-Ittihad for £37m – an offer the Blues would love to receive in real life. Elsewhere, Trevoh Chalobah went on loan to Manchester United with a £21.5m obligation to buy.
Youngsters Andrey Santos and Lucas Bergstrom were loaned out to Strasbourg, while Harvey Vale joined Derby County and Angelo joined Sheffield United.
Football Manager predicts Chelsea’s 2024/25 season
Premier League
Chelsea finished fourth in the 2024/25 Premier League table on 67 points, 24 behind champions Manchester City. This would be a relative success for the Blues as they have not finished in the top four in the past two seasons.
The former Leicester boss led his side to impressive away wins over Arsenal and Manchester United, though home defeats to Nottingham Forest, Southampton and West Ham prevented them from finishing higher.
A huge positive was that Maresca kept club captain Reece James fit for most of the season, as he played 31 out of a possible 38 league games. He also helped Raheem Sterling to return to his best, with the Englishman providing 11 goals and five assists in the league from the left-wing position.
FA Cup and EFL Cup
Chelsea’s EFL Cup journey was short-lived as they lost to Burnley in the third round. The game finished 2-2 after 90 minutes and so it went to penalties, and Nicolas Jackson missed the all-important fifth to see the Clarets through.
The Blues’ FA Cup campaign was far longer, yet even more upsetting. Emphatic wins over Tottenham and Stoke City helped them to the final, though they were beaten 2-1 by Liverpool after Wataru Endo’s late winner.
Europa Conference League
Maresca’s lack of experience in European competition did not prove to be an issue as he guided his team through the Conference League group stage without defeat. The Blues then won the home and away legs of every knockout round until the final.
However, in yet another heartbreaking end, Chelsea lost on penalties to RC Lens in the final at the AEK Arena. Christopher Nkunku’s early opener was cancelled out by Ruben Aguilar in normal time and an extra 30 minutes was not enough for either team to find a breakthrough. Lens scored all four of their spot kicks while Enzo Fernandez and Levi Colwill missed for the Blues.
