Maresca believes honesty is crucial to keep the Chelsea players happy

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca believes an open environment is key to keeping the squad together.

In the first season, Maresca is given the humongous task of overseeing a large group of players, much more than any of his counterparts in the Premier League after Chelsea went on a transfer spree. The midweek League Cup win over Barrow saw the Italian manager make 11 changes which paved the way for Christopher Nkunku to score his first hat-trick for the club.

Ahead of the game against Brighton at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, Nkunku knows that Maresca would prefer Nicolas Jackson in the striker role, however, the challenges of balancing egos and playing time will be the main concern for the manager.

“I am honest, I am honest with (Nkunku) and I’m honest with all of them. I’ve said it many times since day one that we can’t play with seven or eight attacking players as there is no defensive balance,” he told reporters.

“In this moment Nico (Jackson) played last time in the Premier League and scored two goals. Christopher played the other day and scored three. This is good. It’s important they compete with each other.”

“Marc is very important. He has something which sometimes you struggle to find in players,” he said.

“Marc is good and he’s making the players around him better because he’s a guy who’s talking, demanding, and when you have five or six players like Marc in the team, it’s something important and I’m very happy with him.”

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