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Barco basicslly confirmed now. And I see lots of Chelsea fans on Twitter who clearly haven’t watched him and are moaning. But I am super confident that he will be a great signing. Perfect technical ability, great passer, whilst also being very combative and versatile. I think for sure he and Hato will rotate in the left sided combo role. Just a smart signing exactly Jorrel was.

Chelsea https://thedailybriefing.io/i/198711646/Chelsea Former Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has already been speaking with Marc Cucurella about the Spanish left-back joining him at Manchester City. (Simon Phillips) Although Cucurella wants to leave, it is thought that new manager Xabi Alonso really wants to keep him and will push to persuade him. (Simon Phillips) Chelsea could also be serious contenders for Jarrod Bowen, with the England international looking to stay in London even if he’s set to leave West Ham if they get relegated. (Simon Phillips) Chelsea look ready to rival Arsenal for the transfer of in-form Bournemouth wonderkid Eli Junior Kroupi, though the Cherries insist he’s not for sale. (Daily Mail) Chelsea striker Liam Delap is being tipped for a move to Everton as he’s unlikely to survive under incoming new manager Xabi Alonso. (Football Insider)

He said good player 🙂 Among the ones you listed, I would keep: Gusto Gittens(bad momentum to sell, either loan or keep) Jackson Santos maybe, but I am not impressed by him

Even when he was fit he looked in way over his head. He was giving Mudryk vibes in that he looked unbelievable taking on players and beating them for fun at their previous clubs and then as soon as they stepped up to the PL they seemed terrified and couldn’t do anything.

Gittens was pretty much injured all season I don’t understand how any attacker in our system last year was supposed to be evaluated when everything we did last year was so disjointed. We have no wing play all season even Estevao who looked really good at the beginning of the season couldn’t get a look because we try to play everything through the middle. I feel like with Alonso style that gives more opportunities to some of the wingers to show more than they did all season.

Depending on the formation I think Gusto and Andrey Santos could play big roles in Alonso’s team as squad players but the rest definitely need to all go. Our problem of course will be that unless our owners/board are willing to rip the bandaid off and take massive losses just to give us a clean slate it’s going to be a massive pain in the ass to find buyers willing to spend close to what we paid for Garnacho, Gittens, etc. Garnacho is probably still a big enough “name” that he will likely be sought after by European clubs. Gittens though feels impossible to shift out unless it’s a loan since the price we paid for him was criminal AND because he showed nothing all season. Can see maybe some bottom half PL team taking him on loan and that’s probably his level.

Jorgenson, Malo Gusto, Tosin, Badiashile, Disasi, Andrey Santos, Garnacho, Gittens, Pedro Neto, Tyrique George, Jackson, Delap Take your pick. All of them can go in my book

At least we will need to sell one good player

Yeah, I will definitely say that it’s kind of awkward timing for Enzo to try to force his way to Madrid. They’ve got several top quality players in every position he plays in AND they will have a manager who always prioritizes physicality and energy over all else. I suppose in a much less physically demanding La Liga you could very well play him deeper in midfield unlike here in the PL so maybe that’s where he plays? Because in those advanced midfield positions where he has been playing for us they’ve got Bellingham and Velverde who are definite Mou players and Guler who is really developing well. If they move Camavinga and/or Tchouameni then he obviously has a place.

This is the Havertz-Jorginho and Madueke conversation from previous windows all over again. Makes no sense to sell one of our few good players and set ourselves back. Add Barco and keep Enzo. Find the money by selling the bomb squad and clearing out the average players that have piled up at the club.

Exactly. And he clearly wants off. Which he did the same thing with Benfica after all of 2 minutes there too after the WC. So fuck him. Quite frankly, for me, he won’t be missed that much. Yes the goals and assists he’s got this last 12-18 months have definitely made him look a good player and very important to the team but he’s effectively played as a 10/inside 8 off the left sometimes. Palmer had better stats and performances under Poch playing centrally. He was meant to be an all round midfielder, dictating games, getting round the pitch, whatever else like did at Benfica (well like he apparently did!). Time and time again he hasn’t shown this when playing as a 6 or 8. Would rather see Palmer more centrally in that role Enzo has been utilised in, might get him back to his best alongside this prolonged summer break he’ll get. For £106million to get 12-18 months of decent performances, I don’t see the uproar, we’ve lost a lot better calibre of players to Madrid in Robben, Hazard & Rudiger. Good luck to him also, Mourinho will undoubtedly prefer the likes of Valverde, Camavinga, Tchouameni & Bellingham due to their physical as well as technical attributes so wouldn’t be surprised if its a move that doesn’t necessarily work from the off. Jose hasn’t changed either he still values the physical qualities in his players.

I feel like the club hierarchy already have it clearly in their heads that they’re going to sell him and have since the moment he made the statements about loving Madrid and wanting to live there. The fact that they quickly made the very cheeky announcement that Caicedo has signed a new and improved deal was them sending a message. That Enzo’s agent has been talking about improved terms for months and still hasn’t gotten a sufficient offer says it all. They know they NEED some BIG sales this summer and will pick a couple of our biggest players to fund incomings. So they’ll pick Enzo and Cucu who yes, are two of our best players but are also at the same time the most “replaceable” in their eyes. All I’ll say is that you better let Xabi hand pick his Enzo replacement and don’t have the sporting directors force another “data led” signing on him. Even in our current situation I’d have to think getting a call from Xabi Alonso would be very persuasive to a young CM so I pray we aim very high.

Yes I'm the same boat, if the club is serious on turning things with Alonso we can't sell Enzo. He still has some years left so keep him. Sadly with Cucu I would like to keep him but I think he get less time so it's best to sell him.

Selling Enzo at this point just seems like a terrible idea. Both for what he offers on the pitch statistically but also because he seems like a really well beloved teammate around the squad. For the overall balance of the TEAM it may make sense to get a midfielder of a different profile. But I just don’t see how you replace his statistical production. You’ll see the obvious links with a couple of the Real Madrid midfielders coming the other way but one, why would Tchouameni come here in our current state and two, he doesn’t really offer any of the attacking threat Enzo does, right? Anyways, as long as he ONLY goes to Real Madrid I will eventually get over it. If we are stupid enough to even think about selling him to Maresca and watch him pull a KDB or Salah then that’s unforgivable.

Ok, bye. Reece and Caicedo should be the only untouchables, they are real pros on and off the pitch. Enzo is a good player but was never even close living up to his price tag. Every coach tried to find him a perfect position but neither 6, 8 or 10 seemed to be perfect for him. Selling him for good money and getting Barco as a stable partner for Moi sounds like great piece of business.

Güler would be much better than Tchou, who's been stuck in a rut for a long time. I don't want him here Huijsen gets injured way too often!!!

Next Source: 🔵🇦🇷 Real Madrid will make a move to sign Enzo Fernandez, with sources close to the situation saying there is a ‘very strong chance’ that Sunday’s clash with Sunderland is last game for Chelsea. (via @MiguelDelaney)

Wasn't Arda Guler one of Alonso's favorites, wonder what chance we'd have to get him.

💥🔵Simon Phillips reports: Enzo Fernandez Almost definitely off. His camp are adamant he will be leaving this summer. All it needs is to sort a deal for him to join another club, Real Madrid looking most likely at the moment but nothing set in stone there. If he does go to Real Madrid, expect Chelsea to ask for a player or two from them. A source mentioned Dean Huijsen to me just today, says Chelsea will try for him again. Aurelien Tchouameni could be another one to watch. I’ll have the full story and details out on Sunday but there’s more to this story than what meets the eye. 💣🗯Enzo and Cucurella are definitely leaving Chelsea this summer!!!!

This would be huge....from a defensive point of view!

Thiago Silva would be a great addition, blokes a born winner

🙌💣🔵According to ESPN Brasil journalist, Bruno Andrade, Chelsea have already made Thiago Silva an offer to become part of the club’s wider structure once he decides to retire. The plan would see Thiago Silva working as part of Chelsea’s general coaching staff.

Is Enzo Maresca the right head coach for Manchester City? We asked seven Athletic writers https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7291873/2026/05/20/enzo-maresca-manchester-city/ It must rank as one of the hardest jobs in football. Succeeding Pep Guardiola, arguably the greatest coach of his era, at Manchester City will be an onerous — perhaps impossible — task, but Enzo Maresca seems certain to accept it. We asked seven writers at The Athletic to debate whether it would be the right move for City and Maresca. Oliver Kay Enzo Maresca would be, without question, a gamble on Manchester City’s part. An educated gamble — given the identity and track record of those making the decision — but a gamble nonetheless. It was also a gamble when Chelsea appointed him in the summer of 2024 when he had been a head coach for just 18 months, with Parma in Italy’s second tier and Leicester City in England’s second tier. Did it pay off? To an extent, yes — he was certainly more successful than the club’s other coaching appointments under BlueCo’s ownership — but he only won 28 Premier League matches out of 57 (and only eight of 19 in season two). Even taking Chelsea’s dysfunction into account, it was a steady record rather than a spectacular one. If I were a City supporter, or indeed a City player, I would be concerned that any coach would be a downgrade on Pep Guardiola. Maresca might have some of the same ideas and coaching principles, but does he have the same energy, the same charisma, the same knowledge? Watching him at Chelsea, I never thought so. He struck me as a very good coach who was still finding his way. The guy he will be taking over from is a once-in-a-generation type. What You Should Read Next Inside Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea exit: Rotation disagreements, Man City talks and defender woe Enzo Maresca left Chelsea on New Year's Day but the seeds of his exit were sown many months before Adam Crafton It’s a tricky one to predict, given how unique the jobs are that Enzo Maresca previously took. At both Leicester and Chelsea, he achieved trophy-winning success, but he also endured periods in each role which called into question his tactics (particularly keeping possession for possession’s sake at times), as well as his ability to manage both up to the boardroom and the dressing room. However, it is notable to me that Leicester’s players appeared to sincerely miss him when he left upon promotion and a handful of Chelsea’s players also appear to have been grieving his exit in the second half of this season. I did see his best Chelsea performance, the demolition of PSG in the Club World Cup final, but performances such as these were a one-off rather than consistent. Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea demolished PSG in the Club World Cup finalAlex Grimm/Getty Images While I understand the sense of continuity (Maresca’s preferred playing style is similar to Guardiola’s and he has been in the City system), I also wonder how City’s players may respond to a coach who could easily be perceived as Pep-Lite. It’s also worth remembering that Guardiola’s own style has become more direct over the past 18 months, and Maresca may need to undergo his own evolution to maximise the talent pool now on City’s books. Dan Sheldon The new sporting understatement of the year is that replacing Pep Guardiola is going to be an incredibly tall order, maybe even impossible. He is undeniably the best manager of his generation and will leave a void that is going to be incredibly difficult for Manchester City to fill, no matter their faith in Enzo Maresca. There is every chance I may look daft come May 2027, but it is difficult to get excited about the anticipated appointment. Yes, Guardiola is leaving a squad packed full of talent that has age on its side, yet I have a nagging feeling that Maresca is not the right coach to take City forward. Even though Leicester City topped the Championship under Maresca in 2023-24, they limped over the line and you wouldn’t have found many supporters distraught over his exit a few weeks later. A Club World Cup success and messy exit later, the jury — in my view — remains out on just how good Maresca is. There is no doubt that City have done their due diligence and given this a lot of thought — plus, are any elite managers actually available? — but I am not optimistic that it is going to work. Cue me looking rather silly at the end of next season. Rob Tanner There is a sense of fate dictating that Enzo Maresca succeed Pep Guardiola at Manchester City. Maresca worked as the under-21s coach at City under Guardiola and the two bonded over a shared vision of how the game should be played. Maresca then moved to Leicester City to realise his vision on a team that had just been relegated to the Championship. There were doubts whether it would work and whether the possession-based style would suit the players he had inherited. He was questioned at times by the fans, despite consistently getting results, but he was steadfast in his commitment and unwavering in his belief in his plan. The players loved it. They enjoyed the structure he gave them, the fact everything was based around possession rather than running. Above all, they enjoyed winning again. When he left for Chelsea after winning the Championship, Leicester’s decline gathered pace. Maresca celebrates winning the Championship with LeicesterNathan Stirk/Getty Images It is never easy to follow in the footsteps of a club’s greatest manager, but Maresca will not be daunted by the prospect. His self belief is iron-clad. He doesn’t like to be dictated to by senior management on football matters and he is not a corporate yes man, but City will know the character they are bringing in. He can be sensitive to media criticism at times so will have to toughen his skin, but the appointment of Maresca does make sense as it should be a less daunting transition from Guardiola than would otherwise be the case with another manager. Greg O’Keeffe It will be interesting to see whether Enzo Maresca has reflected on why it did not work out for him at Chelsea. Because as much as there was sympathy for him over the circumstances he had to operate under — with suggestions of pressure over his selections, constant scrutiny from exec level and clashes with the medical department — there’s also a feeling he didn’t help himself. Did he really need his ego buffered by public backing from the owners? Why did he talk to City about replacing Guardiola while already in a job? Could he have handled the media better? The answer to all these questions, and the extent to which he has learned and grown, will influence his ability to thrive in an even more challenging role: filling the biggest shoes in club football. It will be hard to know whether the Italian is the right man to replace the irreplaceable until at least May 2027, but Maresca clearly ticks many boxes for those charged with planning for City’s next epoch, and his ability to unite a group of players and win trophies is proven (to an extent). There may well be bigger names to which City could turn but Maresca’s time at the Etihad, his ‘feel’ for the club from that previous spell as a first-team coach and perhaps Guardiola’s blessing, is a significant step towards hopes of a smooth transition. Cerys Jones Sometimes the best solution is the most obvious one. The most important criteria for succeeding Manchester City’s most successful manager is being able to emulate him as closely as possible. Maresca, who is a student of Guardiola’s style of play and worked under him at the Etihad during their treble-winning season, clearly fits that bill. City’s hierarchy know exactly who they are getting. The fact that they are physically similar and share a tactical profile does not make it a like-for-like swap. Guardiola earned his stature through his playing career, and the fact he successfully implemented his methods at Barcelona and Bayern Munich before City. Maresca’s promotion with Leicester and the Club World Cup and Conference League wins with Chelsea will not command quite the same respect. However, it has become clear that his relative lack of experience did not stop him winning over Chelsea’s dressing room. City’s, which is generally more stable in any case, ought to be an easier task — and a character reference from their former boss ought to help bring the players on board. A fundamental difference from his Chelsea days will be that Maresca will not be able to defend any missteps by pointing to what he deems faulty recommendations from others at the club, or the machinery around him not being up to scratch. If he cannot guide a group of players that is a well-oiled winning machine, primed to his football ideas, to trophies, it is hard for the blame to fall anywhere but on him. Seb Stafford-Bloor I don’t envy him. To succeed Pep Guardiola is to be compared with him in every way and it’s difficult to see how Enzo Maresca will ever be flattered by that. There are many conclusions to draw from Guardiola’s decade at City, but among them is that he normalised success and made it routine and long ago set that as the club’s standard. Arguably, that makes the City job — on a performance evaluation basis at least — harder than any other in Europe today. Judging Maresca’s coaching credentials is also difficult, because Chelsea was a curious context within which it was never clear who was responsible for what. In fact, one of the arguments that led to his downfall seemed to be regarding how credit was apportioned for the Club World Cup success last summer. On the one hand, Maresca wrangled talent effectively under difficult circumstances. On the other, he was politically clumsy towards the end and allowed his own capital to dissipate remarkably quickly. Can anyone confidently predict what will happen next? Oliver Kay|Football Writer Adam Crafton|Football Writer Dan Sheldon|Football Writer Sebastian Stafford-Bloor Rob Tanner|Leicester City Correspondent Greg O'Keeffe|Senior Writer Cerys Jones|Football Writer

Xabi Alonso to bring four ex-Real Madrid coaches to Chelsea, Calum McFarlane set to stay https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7287865/2026/05/18/xabi-alonso-Chelsea-coaches/ Xabi Alonso’s long-term assistant coach Sebastian Parrilla is one of four members of his Real Madrid backroom staff who are set to join him at Chelsea. Assistants Alberto Encinas and Benat Labaien, plus fitness coach Ismael Camenforte Lopez are also expected to move to Stamford Bridge with Alonso. Interim head coach Calum McFarlane is set to remain at the club and be part of the new manager’s backroom staff. Chelsea set-piece coach Bernardo Cueva and goalkeeping coach Ben Roberts are both also expected to stay on under Alonso. Alonso gave the Madrid backroom staff an extensive refresh upon his appointment last summer and there remains a possibility that he could bring more coaches to Chelsea. The 44-year-old was appointed Chelsea manager on Sunday on a four-year deal. The job marks his return to management after being sacked by Madrid in January. All four coaches departed Madrid alongside Alonso at the beginning of the year. The former midfielder has worked with Parrilla since the beginning of his coaching career, dating back to the pair taking charge of Madrid’s under-14s in 2018. Parrilla had spent two decades working in Madrid’s academy, before joining Alonso at Real Sociedad’s B team in 2019, and then Bayer Leverkusen, where they guided the club to their first Bundesliga title in 2023-24 after going the entire domestic campaign unbeaten. The Athletic reported in June that Alonso relies on Parrilla in particular for defensive work and set-pieces. Encinas is a former coach at Barcelona’s La Masia academy, who first worked with Alonso during his successful spell at Leverkusen before he brought him to Madrid. Labaien joined Alonso at Madrid, returning to the club where he worked in the youth set-up between 2011 and 2014. A video analyst and assistant coach, he has also had spells at Atletico Madrid, Leeds United, Real Sociedad, Al Wakrah and Real Zaragoza, in addition to a stint in charge of Japanese side Tokushima Vortis in 2023. What You Should Read Next Alonso choosing Chelsea is a leap of faith – and a coup for the club who must make it work From Real Madrid to Chelsea is a bold move from Alonso - but being given the title of manager means he should have more power Camenforte Lopez first worked with Alonso at Leverkusen, before joining him at Madrid as the club’s head of fitness preparation. His focus was on the style of play of Alonso’s teams, planning players’ loads and on-pitch work. He previously spent eight years at La Masia, followed by spells at New York City and Denmark’s national team. McFarlane moved to Chelsea from Southampton in the summer of 2025 as Under-21 coach, and has had two spells in interim charge this season following the departures of Enzo Maresca and Liam Rosenior. The 40-year-old confirmed on Monday that Alonso has been in touch with him since Chelsea officially announced he is the club’s next permanent manager on Sunday morning. “I haven’t spoken to him, but I’ve had a brief conversation with him via text yesterday,” he said in a press conference. “I’ll keep that private, but (it was) mainly just around the final.” Alonso will not officially start work until July 1, but McFarlane has revealed the players have reacted very positively to the news. When asked if he has noticed the players are excited about Alonso coming in, he replied: “Yes, everyone has been excited. He’s had a really good career so far. Won major trophies, a great playing career. He will have a lot of respect from everyone. “He is a great coach, with a massive pedigree. We are all looking forward to working with him.” Chelsea take on Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday and midfielder Romeo Lavia is a doubt after picking up a minor injury in training last week which caused him to be left out of Saturday’s FA Cup Final. Mario Cortegana|Football Writer, Real Madrid Simon Johnson|Chelsea Correspondent