“I expect…” – Enzo Maresca throws down the gauntlet to major Chelsea ace in stunning rant

Chelsea manager, Enzo Maresca, clearly isn’t bothered about winning any friends in West London, and this time he’s directed his ire at captain, Reece James.

The Italian has been brutally honest when dealing with players so far, and dependant on one’s point of view, that’s either a breath of fresh air or completely the wrong way to go about things.

He also doesn’t appear to be interested in anyone else’s opinion as to how to do his job, and is clearly more than happy to back players when others might consider them to be underperforming or perhaps surplus to requirements.

Enzo Maresca challenges Reece James to give more

Maresca knows his own mind, is confident enough to speak it when required, and perhaps that’s the type of strong mentality that the Blues had lacked under the likes of Graham Potter and Mauricio Pochettino et al.

The player that has felt the sharp end of his tongue on this occasion is James, and the manager’s words have hinted that a change could soon be coming in terms of who wears the armband at Stamford Bridge.

Brutal honesty from Enzo Maresca on Reece James ?#ITVFootball | #CFC pic.twitter.com/W04c4zFB3f

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) October 25, 2024

“I spoke with him. He’s doing well and progressing, but most of the time a player thinks that because I’m captain I expect that you give me more,” he said in his pre-match press conference for the weekend’s game against Newcastle.

“No. For me, because you are the captain, you have to give more. You have to give more than the rest. I expect it from Reece and his team-mates expect if from him to always give more in terms of leadership.

“Levi Colwill and Marc Cucurella are some of the leaders, also Tosin. Levi is fantastic and you can see that he is one of the guys that is always speaking. We need to build on that.”

Maresca has effectively thrown down the gauntlet to the right-back in what can only be perceived as another stunning rant.

The back-handed threat of losing the captaincy could well see James step up and grow more into the role as his manager would prefer.

Or, he could retreat more into his shell and find that he’s cast aside just in the way that Ben Chilwell and others have been.