Explained: Why Enzo Maresca opted not to demand potential £14m Chelsea pay-off after shock exit from Blues

Maresca left Chelsea last week, with the club making a change after the Blues slipped down to fifth in the Premier League table, after a run of just one win in their last five fixtures. Now, the club are preparing for their fixture against Manchester City, with Under-21 coach Calum McFarlane set to take charge of the first-team. The Sun has reported that Maresca's decision to walk away from the Blues saw him turn his back on a potential £14m pay-off, amid reports that he had held talks with Manchester City over potentially replacing Pep Guardiola.

According to the report, Maresca felt so angry about being undermined by the Chelsea hierarchy that he did not discuss exit terms with the club. He would have been due around £14m, having signed a five-year deal, with the option for a further year, when he joined the club from Leicester City in 2024. He was earning around £4m-per-season, and leaving after 18 months has left an immense amount of money on the table. Maresca's camp also deny any reports that he attempted to strong-arm Chelsea into handing him a new contract by leveraging City's interest in him.

At the time of his sacking, Chelsea said: "During his time at the Club, Enzo led the team to success in the UEFA Conference League and the FIFA Club World Cup. Those achievements will remain an important part of the Club’s recent history, and we thank him for his contributions to the Club.

"With key objectives still to play for across four competitions including qualification for Champions League football, Enzo and the Club believe a change gives the team the best chance of getting the season back on track.

"We wish Enzo well for the future."

Looking for smarter football bets? Get expert previews, data-driven predictions & winning insights with GOAL Tips on Telegram. Join our growing community now!

Maresca is also understood to be angry at suggestions that he fell out with the club's medical staff, and subsequently risked the health of first-team stars such as Cole Palmer and Reece James. He was frustrated with the amount of confrontations he was forced to have with the club's power-brokers, especially when it came to team selections and potential substitutions.

Regardless, he has been tipped to make a swift return to the dugout by Premier League legend Alan Shearer.

He said: "His time at Chelsea should be viewed as a successful spell for Maresca. They beat the best team around last year in PSG; he out-coached the Coach of the Year. They won the Conference League, which you’d expect, but not many thought they’d go to the Club World Cup and win. 

"He’s in and around the top four, so for me, he’s done a really good job. He’ll leave with his stock high. I don’t think he’ll struggle to get another job because of the work he’s done at Chelsea and Leicester. Whether he gets one of the big ones remains to be seen. There’s been talk about City, hasn’t there, but it depends on if Pep Guardiola decides to leave and when, but he won’t struggle for a job in England or abroad."

He added: "You know when you go into that job what you're doing, it's a very different football club to others in terms of how it's managed. That's not Maresca, that's the people above him. Their model is obviously to buy young, develop them, and give them crazy long contracts with the potential to sell. I don't think you're going to win the league like that. You might get into the top four because you can spend, but in the main, the guy coming in has to do better than the guy that's just left."

McFarlane will hope to make an impact from the Chelsea dugout when they take on City on Sunday. The Blues sit fifth in the Premier League table, three points behind fourth-placed Liverpool.