Marc Cucurella has called out the Chelseaboard and claimed he would NOT have sacked Enzo Maresca.
Maresca, 46, left his role as the club's head coach on January 1 with the Blues sitting fifth in the Premier League. During his 18-month spell at Stamford Bridge, the Italian won the Conference League and Club World Cup, and guided them back into the Champions League following a three-year hiatus.
Liam Rosenior was soon confirmed as Maresca's replacement and he made an instant impact, winning six of his first eight matches across all competitions. But Chelsea's form has dipped since, with the Blues recording just three wins from their last 10 games and two of those came against Championship opposition in the FA Cup.
It's a run of form that has seen the club exit the Champions League and move down to sixth in the Premier League, three points behind Liverpool in fifth and six adrift of fourth-place Aston Villa.
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"We knew what Maresca wanted from us," Cucurella told The Athletic. "Winning a title like the Club World Cup also helps, strengthens the bond, and you create great relationships during the celebrations. When a manager gives you that confidence and offers you a platform to fight for titles, you'd die for him.
"The moment Maresca left, it had a big impact on us. These are decisions taken by the club. If you asked me, I would not have made this decision.
"To make a change like that, the best thing is to wait until the end of the season. You would give everyone, the players and the new manager, time to get ready, have a full pre-season...
"The instability around the club comes from this, in a nutshell. We had a caretaker [Calum McFarlane] first, then a new manager, with new ideas and no time to work on them. It is what it is."
With Chelsea losing each of their last four matches and exiting the Champions League to Paris Saint-Germain, the club's board has faced criticism about their policy to sign young players. Across the last SEVEN transfer windows, the Blues have signed just one player aged 26 or over.
And Cucurella appeared to take aim at the Blues hierarchy for just choosing to recruit from the younger age range rather than looking to get some experience in the squad. From Chelsea's last XI against Everton before international break, 1998-born Cucurella was the oldest outfield starter.
"Results like that are always hard to take," Cucurella added. "You are fighting and training every day only to realise, at the very end, that when games matter, we are still a bit away from the top level.
"I understand this is part of the club's policy, and that they want to take this direction - signing young players and looking to the future. But, for all of us who are still here and want to win big things, moments like this make you feel discouraged.
"We have a good core of players. The foundations are there. But to fight for major trophies such as the Premier League or the Champions League, you need more. Signing young players only might complicate achieving those goals. Against PSG, we lacked players that had gone through situations like that.
"You need time as well, and I know the young players are the ones that will have the experience in the future. But you need to find the balance between both worlds."
