Our new head coach will take charge of his first competitive Chelsea fixture when we host the reigning Premier League champions in our opening match of 2024/25 at Stamford Bridge.

Looking ahead to what it will take for his team to be successful, both in that match and across the coming season as a whole, Enzo Maresca insists it will take more than ability to match his and the club’s expectations.

‘Since we started, I’ve said the same,’ explained Maresca. ‘Today in football, talent isn’t enough, you need something more. That is why we are trying to create the right culture inside the pitch and outside the pitch. To create something important that is not just “this player is good and that’s enough”.

‘That is not enough, especially when you wear a Chelsea shirt. You need the extra things and extra behaviours. This is what we are trying to build a little bit.

‘There are small details that you can see. In one of our friendly games, one of the opposition players kicked one of our players in a bad way and no-one was around our player to defend him.

‘For me, I analyse these things and we want this culture where our players defend their team-mates if there is a bad intention against them. It doesn’t mean I go there and start fighting, but I go close and defend my team-mate.

‘This type of thing is what you need to become a team. You need that. You need them to be close, like brothers on the pitch, ready to defend each other. Otherwise you struggle because being good players isn’t enough.’

The Italian also discussed the key areas for his footballing philosophy, while highlighting the strength in depth and array of talent at his disposal going into the new season in the Blues dugout.

‘In our system, there are positions that are very important. For instance, the two holding midfielders, we have Moi [Caicedo] and Romeo [Lavia] that can play together. We can use some of the guys like Malo [Gusto] and Reece [James] in this position, Marc Cucurella too.

‘Then in the pocket positions, we have Cole [Palmer], who can play there or wide, Christo [Nkunku] can play inside, Enzo [Fernandez] can play in the pocket.

‘And then in terms of wingers, we have wingers that are good one-vs-one like Misha [Mudryk] and then in defence we have defenders that are very good at building like Levi [Colwill]. So there are some positions that I think we have very good players in.’

There are some tough choices for Maresca to make then, as he names his first Premier League team sheet for the Blues ahead of today’s 4.30pm kick-off against Manchester City at the Bridge.