Pundit Jason Cundy has urged Chelsea to appoint Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner as their new manager. The Blues are looking for a capable replacement for Enzo Maresca after the Italian left the club on New Year’s Day.
Maresca had a pretty decent 18-month spell at Stamford Bridge during which he helped the club win the Conference League and Club World Cup. The Italian decided to vacate his role after 2-2 draw with Bournemouth in midweek.
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Strasbourg manager Liam Rosenior is understood to be the leading candidate to replace Maresca. The ex-Hull City manager has impressed during his tenure in France, managing Chelsea‘s fellow BlueCo-owned outfit Strasbourg.
However, Jason Cundy believes that his former club should not gamble on a manager with no Premier League experience. He has claimed that Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner would be the perfect candidate to fill the vacancy. He told talkSPORT:
“Oliver Glasner is the one I would go for. That’s where I would go. He has proven himself to be an excellent manager. Chelsea are not going to go out and poach the best manager. For example, we’re not going to get Pep (Guardiola).”
Cundy added:
“But I think, when you look at what Glasner has done at Crystal Palace, where he has taken them, where they have been. He’s had his own restrictions, by the way. He’s had his own problems at the football club for a lack of investment.”
While Rosenior does not have the experience of managing in the Premier League, he has playing experience in England’s top three tiers. He also managed Derby County and Hull City briefly before moving to France to manage Strasbourg.
Meanwhile, Oliver Glasner is one of the most sought-after managers right now following his impressive spell at Crystal Palace. Since taking over at Selhurst Park in 2024, he has done remarkably well and helped them win the FA Cup and FA Community Shield last season.
Chelsea great John Terry gives his take on club’s decision to part ways with Enzo Maresca
Former Chelsea captain John Terry has opened up on his surprise to see the Blues parting ways with Enzo Maresca. He has admitted that he is taken aback by the news and wonders what went wrong behind the scenes. In a TikTok video, the former England defender said:
“Enzo Maresca has just been sacked by Chelsea, and to be honest, I’m completely shocked. I didn’t see it coming. I know things of late haven’t been how he would like. You can see and hear that there’s been tension. I’ve had so many phone calls this morning after the news and everyone expects me to know what’s happening. I haven’t got a clue what’s happening, I’m not involved in the first team so I don’t know.”
He added:
“Just my opinion from afar, there’s clearly been tension between the manager and the owner and they’ve come to this decision. It’s a big shock because rewind three or four weeks ago and we were playing so well against Barcelona. It was so good and fast forward four weeks and form and performances clearly haven’t been good enough.”
Terry concluded:
“I think like the squad, the manager is inexperienced himself. It was his first full-time job in the top-flight and he has said how he’s still learning and how he’s got some things wrong at times. But I will say there’s always two sides to the story and there’s certainly things behind the scenes that I don’t know about. I just hear rumblings like everyone else does.”
Enzo Maresca was appointed by Chelsea in the summer of 2024 after he led Leicester City to Premier League promotion. He helped the club finish fourth last season and they are fifth in the table at the moment this season.
Maresca also led Chelsea to silverware in his first season as they won the FIFA Club World Cup and the UEFA Europa Conference League. He managed the Blues 92 times and won 55 games with a win percentage of 59.78%.
Edited by Snehanjan Banerjee
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