Enzo Maresca gives green light to Chelsea transfer as shock Christopher Nkunku decision pays off

Chelsea showed signs of evolution in the opening match of the Enzo Maresca reign. The Blues were held to a 2-2 draw with Wrexham in Santa Clara but as Maresca pointed out post-game, the result was less important than the performance.

After working together for just a couple of weeks, things were far from perfect. And that’s to be expected. There was some major sloppiness that crept into Chelsea’s play, particularly in the second half but overall there were enough positives to take from the 90 minutes.

And, with that being said, Bobby Vincent takes a look at some of the major talking points. And most of them are indeed positive…

Nkunku’s surprise role

There have been so many questions regarding Christopher Nkunku and where his role in the Chelsea setup will be. Maresca was even asked about it just over 24 hours before the draw with Wrexham and the Italian spoke about how the Frenchman can be used virtually anywhere.

“He can play everywhere,” the Chelsea boss said on Tuesday on Nkunku. “He’s one of the players in these two weeks who is doing very, very well. He is taking the way we want to play. We will try to have players who can play in different positions [in attack].”

Even after those comments, not many people would have expected to see Nkunku used in the centre of midfield against Wrexham. The 26-year-old was used on the left-hand side of a midfield three but was not too far behind the central striker.

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It was a role that really seemed to suit the France international. It meant he could take up those clever positions, like he did for his goal, where he finds space arriving into the box later than the striker.

Guiu impresses

Chelsea supporters were very excited to see Marc Guiu be handed his debut for the club at the Levi’s Stadium. And judging by his first-half performance, fans are likely to be more than satisfied with what they witnessed from the teenage Spaniard.

Guiu did not set the world alight. Not by any means. But what he did do is show what sort of player he is. He looks to be a real nuisance.

The 18-year-old pressed really well. There were a couple of times where he pressurised Wrexham and almost won possession back – once on the goalkeeper and the other on a defender.

His off-the-ball movement was really impressive, too, and he was often looking for that over-the-top through ball that Levi Colwill is so good at playing. An exciting debut from the man they signed from Barcelona earlier in the summer and it has left plenty of intrigue about what more he can do during Chelsea’s time in the United States.

Leicester blueprint

As widely expected, Maresca looked for his full-backs to invert. We were not quite sure whether that would be the right-back or left-back, or alterations between the two. It was only the right-back against Wrexham, though, perhaps to do with the personnel available more than anything else.

Reece James started the game and flourished in that role in the first half. It is a role that seems almost tailor-made for the Chelsea captain, who is technically one of the most talented footballers around.

Malo Gusto replaced James at half-time but struggled to make the same impact. This, though, was perhaps more down to Wrexham getting to grips with the system a bit more, with the Welsh side almost crowding Gusto out of the game when the ball was with the Chelsea defence.

The goalkeeper situation

Maresca admitted anything can happen in the transfer window with growing speculation over Chelsea’s interest in Villarreal goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen. football.london understands the Blues are confident they can strike a deal with the Spanish club for the 22-year-old shot-stopper.

Robert Sanchez started the game and played 45 minutes before being replaced by Lucas Bergstrom. Djordje Petrovic is back in England nursing a slight injury but it seems Maresca would prefer another option in between the posts.

Speaking after the game, Maresca spoke highly about Sanchez and how impressed he has been with the Spaniard, but the head coach refused to rule out Chelsea signing another goalkeeper. He said: “What I can say is Robert did very well tonight and did very well since we started.

“For sure, the way we want to play, the goalkeeper is very, very important – one of the main positions. And I don’t want to talk about players that are not Chelsea players but I am very happy with Robert.”

He continued: “We’ll see, we’ll see [if Chelsea want to add another goalkeeper]. In this moment we have four goalkeepers. Petrovic is still with us but injured. We will see with the timing. When the transfer window is open, anything can happen for us and for the rest.”