New Captains, Same Ships

Starting this summer, two clubs enter different eras under new managers whose previous tenures fell apart.

Enzo Maresca has always appeared to be the logical heir to Pep, but expectations for the Italian vary. Xabi Alonso, after being dumped by Real Madrid, sees Chelsea as the perfect spot to rehab his career, while the club needs him to be a savior.

Both Chelsea and Manchester City see this summer as pivotal for their respective success in the coming years. Their two new managers arrive at their clubs, seeking a second chance after their previous stints ended badly.

Funny enough, Maresca managed Chelsea last season, with the club moving on from him after everything fell apart. While his time at Chelsea ultimately failed, the Italian showed enough at both Chelsea and Leicester to warrant a second chance. Furthermore, having come up through the City pipeline, his experiences with Pep bode well for his future as City’s new leader.

After breaking up Bayern’s dominance in the Bundesliga, no manager saw his stock reach the heights of Alonso before his move to Real. His time with the Spanish giants went badly from the start, with issues at every level. Like Maresca, the former Liverpool man showed enough at Leverkusen for another club to bring him in.

While the clubs differ in their immediate needs, Chelsea and City bet on managers whose stocks are at a low point.

With new eras on the horizon in the Prem, none may draw eyes on them quite like the Blues and Citizens.

Maresca never seemed long for life with the Blues. After all, his whole career up to that point showed a manager being groomed for the top spot with City.

Despite overperforming with a mediocre Leicester side, Maresca never truly integrated his system into Chelsea. Who can blame him, however? The club went through another two managers to finish off the season.

The Italian’s time at Chelsea saw the perfect storm appear. A fractured team that remains years from contending and a manager clearly angling for a different role.

Pep’s departure from City opens a new era for the club, one reminiscent of the ownership group’s arrival. However, unlike when the current owners arrived in Manchester, they don’t need to worry about building a club. The investments made during the Pep era enabled them to create a stable environment in which any manager could thrive.

For Maresca, the goal set by ownership feels simple: build the next team to dominate both the Prem and Europe. At Chelsea, the Italian needed to deliver right away, something that he failed to do, but it feels like City is willing to give him the time. By the end of Pep’s time in charge, the team never truly returned to the heights of the early 2020s, despite always being competitive.

Armed with a budget unlike almost anyone in Europe and a squad needing a serious revamp, the Italian possesses a chance almost any manager would kill for. Add to that an academy where he developed his managerial style, and a real pipeline begins to materialize. Additionally, with the time allotted to him by the ownership group, Maresca is here for the long haul.

His time at Chelsea promised to be a placeholder for what City deemed Maresca to be the heir to.

Now, finally receiving that chance, the Italian has the chance to mold the club’s future in his image, just as Pep did.

Real Madrid spent last season spiraling downwards, with anything that could go wrong eventually going wrong. Needing a scapegoat halfway through the season, Xabi Alonso fell on the sword, but the club’s issues persisted.

In the few seasons prior to his move to Madrid, Alonso built a fun and competitive Leverkusen side that dethroned Bayern. Using a 3-4-3, the side featured plenty of young, exciting players who developed well under the Spaniard. Playing a style of football that emphasized creativity and fluidity in attack meant that clubs across Europe soon came calling.

While Alonso was building the side to break up Bayern’s monopoly, Chelsea remained rudderless. Switching managers almost every season, gluts of new transfers being brought in, stability refused to exist for the Blues. With more and more money being invested, Todd Boehly and the rest of the ownership group needed a return.

After the Maresca era ended halfway through last season, the club needed a hit. Even if this ownership group appears to have unlimited money, it will need results at some point.

Alonso’s fit at Stamford Bridge is intriguing, as the manager proved to lift a middling squad to the next level, given time. That caveat proved untrue for all previous managers, but Alonso comes in with more prestige than any of them. Finally, it seems that the club’s current situation forced Boehly to recognize the issue at the heart of the club.

With rumors of potentially big sales coming up for Chelsea, a clean slate appears on the horizon for Alonso. The first era of Boehly’s tenure as owner ended with the arrival of the Spaniard, meaning that the reins needed to be handed over. At Real, there was never any chance for Alonso to have this level of potential freedom.

Alonso’s long-term success with the Blues comes down to whether he will be given the time and freedom to build the squad in his image.

While his time with Real ended in utter disappointment, it’s wrong to write him off as a manager.

Both Alonso and Maresca arrive at their new clubs with the managers and teams needing a new start. For the two new helmsmen, they both appear desperate to prove that the failures of their respective previous tenures were a one-time thing.

The teams, however, need these managers to usher in a new era.