Chelsea 2025-26 Season Preview: Enzo Maresca's resurgent Blues are dark horses for the title after a transformative summer

For the first time in a long time, there is an air of real positivity around Chelsea on the eve of the new season - thanks in no small part to a three-month period that has been transformative for both their short and long-term outlook.

First, a Champions League return was secured via a fourth-placed league finish - well ahead of schedule if Maresca is to be believed. Then, 'major' silverware in the form of the Conference League, as the Blues eased past Real Betis in the final in Poland. Finally, and most remarkably of all, Chelsea claimed an unlikely triumph at the Club World Cup, dismantling European champions Paris Saint-Germain in the showpiece under the blazing New Jersey sun.

The football has been excellent, too, with the Cole Palmer-inspired thumping of PSG the culmination of Maresca's work across what was a draining first campaign in the dugout. This spell has given Chelsea a tangible platform, and there is a sense among the fanbase that their club is finally back where it belongs after years in the wilderness.

That string of successes in such a short period has whipped up a buoyant mood around the club, with the excitement fuelled by another prolific transfer window both in terms of incomings and outgoings, and a brief but very positive pre-season.

Chelsea have often been accused of having a scattergun approach to the transfer window since the BlueCo takeover three years ago, and with good reason. But despite another flurry of business, a more targeted approach suggests lessons have been learned and plenty of money has been recouped amid some unbelievable turnover, while the youth-focused model might actually be paying dividends.

At long last, the west Londoners have moved to reinforce the striker department in a big way, spending a combined £90 million ($121m) to sign Liam Delap and Joao Pedro from Ipswich and Brighton respectively. English winger Jamie Gittens is another attacking addition, arriving from Borussia Dortmund, while we have known for some time that Brazilian wonderkid Estevao Willian would be joining the cause after a £56m ($71m) transfer was pre-agreed with Palmeiras last summer. It seems Chelsea are determined to continue with this spending spree on forward players, too, with both RB Leipzig's Xavi Simons and Manchester United outcast Alejandro Garnacho widely expected to arrive before the window closes on September 1.

In midfield, Dario Essugo's arrival was also agreed ahead of time with Sporting CP, and at the back, 19-year-old Jorrel Hato is considered a key signing for the long-term. The latter could be thrown straight in at the deep end after Levi Colwill suffered an ACL injury, with Chelsea supposedly reluctant to enter the market again for a replacement.

The Blues might be closing in on a £250m ($336m) spend this summer, but that has been facilitated by some impressive outgoing business. Most notably, Noni Madueke has completed a big-money transfer to Arsenal for more than £20m ($27m) in profit after a middling two-and-a-half seasons at Stamford Bridge, while almost all of the £46m ($62m) spurned on Joao Felix last year could be recouped (if add-ons are met) after Al-Nassr came calling.

Elsewhere, bit-part midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall has been sold to Everton for more or less the same fee paid to Leicester last year, and Chelsea have almost doubled their money by cashing in on goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic, who has joined Bournemouth for £25m ($34m). Burnley have certainly helped to balance the books, signing Cobham academy graduates Bashir Humphreys and Armando Broja and unwanted midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu for around £55m ($74m) overall in what looks like incredible business on paper. Goalkeepers Kepa Arrizabalaga and Marcus Bettinelli have also gone for small fees, joining Arsenal and Manchester City respectively.

Strasbourg, the Blues' sister club, have been leaned upon in a big way, with forgotten midfielder Mathis Amougou sold to the Ligue 1 side for a loss, where he joins loanees Kendry Paez, Mike Penders and Mamadou Sarr. Striker Marc Guiu has embarked on a Premier League loan at Sunderland.

Despite all of that, there is still plenty of work to be done, with the club determined to shift the likes of Raheem Sterling, Ben Chilwell, Axel Disasi, Christopher Nkunku, Carney Chukwuemeka AND Renato Veiga before the window is out in this latest squad refresh.

Chelsea made the wise decision to scale back their pre-season preparations this year following their Club World Cup exploits earlier in the summer, and they will hope to benefit from that in the long-term amid fears over injuries and fatigue affecting the squad as the campaign progresses.

Rather than jet off on a far-flung tour, the Blues hosted two friendlies at Stamford Bridge against Bayer Leverkusen and AC Milan over the course of one weekend a week before the start of the season proper, with the players having only returned a matter of days beforehand. Losing Colwill on the first day of training is a certainly a huge blow.

Nevertheless, the two games have only served to heighten expectations ahead of 2025-26 getting underway, with the hosts purring and their new signings shining in the 2-0 and 4-1 victories just two days apart. Against Leverkusen, fans got their first glimpse of Estevao in a Chelsea shirt and he didn't disappoint - opening the scoring with a calm finish and posing a threat with his dribbling throughout his time on the pitch.

Pedro rounded off the victory late on with his fourth goal in three games for the club, having starred at the Club World Cup after joining mid-tournament, and he made it five against Milan two days later with an early header before Delap netted a brace to wrap up a comfortable win over the 10-man Rossoneri. It's obviously a small sample size, but Chelsea look to be in a good place as the countdown to kick-off begins.

There has been a notable shift in tone from Maresca as the new season looms, with the Italian clearly acknowledging the progress that has been made in recent months. Indeed, he believes his side could be on the cusp of a title challenge, having repeatedly insisted they were some way off last term.

"I think one year ago, we were very far from the ones that dominated English football," he told the Men in Blazers YouTube channel recently. "And I think that now we are quite close, and hopefully we can continue to improve, and be even closer and try to compete for the title."

So how does he intend to do that? Maresca was true to his reputation as a very tactical and analytical coach last season, deploying a fluid 4-2-3-1 shape that requires players who are capable of playing in multiple roles - with full-backs inverting or pushing high, midfielders dropping deep and wingers drifting inside. He likes to rotate, too, and that will be essential following the return to the Champions League.

Chelsea's transfer business reflects that we shouldn't expect much change in that regard, with the system already highly adaptable. Pedro and Hato can play in different attacking and defensive positions respectively, as can potential arrival Simons, while Essugo provides very able cover for Caicedo or the option for a more solid double pivot behind Palmer, with Romeo Lavia an option there, too.

It will be very interesting to see the knock-on effect of Simons' involvement on Palmer's position; having the Dutchman in the No.10 role would free up the Blues' talisman to play as a roaming half-winger off the right flank, where he is arguably at his most menacing - something PSG would attest to.

When deciding who would take this accolade a year ago, GOAL pipped for Moises Caicedo, and after a player-of-the-season campaign for Chelsea in 2024-25, we don't really need to look any further this time around.

The Blues' defence was vastly improved last season, thanks in no small part to the tireless Ecuadorian screening in front of the backline and getting through a ridiculous amount of work as an ever-present midfield destroyer, although one who is equally adept at progressing play as he is at crashing into tackles.

Caicedo has firmly re-established himself as one of the best in the business in his position over the past 18 months after a difficult start to life at Stamford Bridge, and with Man City's Rodri still struggling with his fitness, the 23-year-old is arguably the best defensive midfielder on the planet at the time of writing.

He will be determined to continue in that vein, and Chelsea are going to need him in front of an unsettled defence that will be missing Colwill and will likely lack experience on certain occasions as the likes of Aaron Anselmino and Hato provide cover.

Chelsea have a squad packed full of highly-rated, relatively unknown young players, but it's difficult to look past one name in particular for this title. Plenty of people will have heard of Estevao by now, but very few will have seen him in action given he has been plying his trade out of sight and out of mind in Brazil until this point.

It speaks volumes of his potential that there hasn't been many new signings - among the vast sum BlueCo have bankrolled - who have generated so much excitement among the fanbase in recent times, but Estevao has captured the imagination, and the early signs are that he will live up to a burgeoning reputation.

In the international spotlight for the first time, the teenager shone at the Club World Cup for now-former club Palmeiras, scoring an outrageous goal against Chelsea in the quarter-finals. Having joined up with his new team-mates after the tournament, a goal on debut against Leverkusen suggests he isn't going to take long to adapt.

The archetypal Brazilian attacker, boasting trickery, vision, pace and end product, Estevao looks ready to take the Premier League by storm despite his slender frame and tender years.

This is the question on the lips of everyone associated with Chelsea, but the answer will probably only become clear once the season is fully underway. They have looked formidable since the backend of last season, with that victory over PSG certainly shifting perspectives and expectations, but will they actually be able to challenge the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal in any serious way?

As we've touched upon, Maresca clearly feels his squad are capable of pushing for more than just a top-four finish this season. "When you are at Chelsea, the target has to be always to win games and titles," he said in that same interview. "This is the minimum required. So we're going to try."

From the fans' perspective, Champions League qualification will be the minimum requirement from the outset, but if, like last season, they make a strong start and find themselves in the title conversation at Christmas, this time they will be expected to maintain their challenge for far longer, with a third-place finish representing a very successful season.

There will be no expectation to win the Champions League, but Chelsea will know better than anyone that anything can happen in Europe's premier club competition and they should be aiming for the quarter-finals as a starting point. As usual, runs deep into the domestic cup competitions will be par for the course, and they will offer a good chance of major silverware if an unlikely title charge falls short.

To understand how quickly the mood could shift, it was just four months ago that Maresca was booed and faced chants of "w*nker" from the travelling support as Chelsea trailed Fulham at Craven Cottage, with their Champions League qualification hopes under serious threat. Their biggest enemy is likely to be fatigue and injuries after a season that dragged on well into the summer.

Player of the Season: Cole Palmer. Expect Chelsea's new talisman to be back to his best in 2025-26, with his singlehanded Club World Cup demolition of PSG an ominous sign of what's to come.

Biggest disappointment: Liam Delap. Hailed as a great bit of business at £30m ($40m), it looks like Delap is going to have to fight tooth and nail for his place in Maresca's XI as a result of Pedro's fast start, and he might fall short of expectation as a result.

Best signing: Xavi Simons. A player who fits the youth-focused transfer policy but is arguably already elite, Simons could be transformative for Chelsea's attack (if and when the deal goes through), freeing up Palmer to play in the menacing, free-roaming role that he thrives in.

Top scorer: Cole Palmer. It doesn't really matter that Chelsea have finally signed a couple more strikers, Palmer will be the Blues' most deadly marksman in the new campaign, but Pedro has shown he can contribute too.

European fate: Champions League quarter-finalists. Back in the big time after returning to the European football's top table, Chelsea always have a fair crack at the UCL, and for a young and inexperienced squad a run to the last eight would be considered a success.

League position: Third. It's a bold shout indeed, but Chelsea's Club World Cup triumph and the manner of it has shifted the mood, with optimism that, down the line, this squad is capable of something special, and finishing ahead of Pep Guardiola's new-look Man City would constitute a very good season.