New Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca snubs former boss Pep Guardiola as he reveals his coaching influences

Maresca made the shock move to Chelsea from Leicester City last month, despite having only recently led the Foxes to promotion from the Championship to the Premier League. He took over from the departing Mauricio Pochettino to become the Blues' seventh permanent manager since 2016. In a club interview, the Italian was questioned about his coaching influences and he surprisingly snubbed former boss Pep Guardiola but that could potentially be because he was asked about coaches he played under.

Maresca was asked which coaches from his playing days helped shape him, and he answered: "Absolutely. As you say, I played under (Carlo) Ancelotti, (Marcello) Lippi, (Manuel) Pellegrini, all of them are very important managers. We all try to take things and then we create our own box with all these things inside. It’s what I’ve tried to do since I started thinking about being a manager."

The 44-year-old was also asked about the Italian heritage at Chelsea and said: "One of the reasons for sure [I joined]. I’m very proud to be an Italian manager here again. Probably there is something between Chelsea as a club, as a family, and Italian people that works well!"

The Italian has a major job on his hands at Stamford Bridge after Pochettino led the Blues to a rather poor season by the club's standard and on the basis of the signings they made last summer. However, Maresca will know that he has a crop of very talented players to work with in the form of Cole Palmer, Moises Caicedo, Christopher Nkunku, Enzo Fernandez and Reece James among others and will hope to find some success right off the bat.

The 44-year-old will lead the club for the first time during the Blues' pre-season United States tour when his side take on League One side Wrexham at the Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara on July 24.