Enzo Maresca will sign a five-year deal with Chelsea with the option of a further year with his arrival set to be confirmed by the end of the week.
The Italian will succeed Maurico Pochettino at Stamford Bridge having led Leicester City back to the Premier League after winning the Championship.
The Daily Telegraph report a deal between the club and Maresca is being finalised by lawyers with an announcement possibly to be made on Friday.
A five-year deal with the option of another 12 months represents a significant show of faith from US investors Behdad Eghbali and Todd Boehly as the club seek to bring stability back after a series of turbulent seasons.
His predecessor Pochettino signed a two-year contract with the option of a third year last summer, lasting just a year in his role. Graham Potter was also handed a five-year deal, lasting just seven months before being sacked last year.
Thomas Tuchel meanwhile signed an initial 18-month deal in January 2021.
Maresca is expected to bring at least six members of staff with him from Leicester including former Blues goalkeeper Willy Caballero, who served as the Italian’s assistant manager last season.
Coaches Danny Walker and Roberto Vitiello, goalkeeper coach Michele de Bernardin, fitness coach Marcos Alvarez and first-team analyst Javier Molina Caballero will also join him in west London.
Maresca’s time at the King Power Stadium was his second job in first-team management after a disappointing spell at Parma in Serie B. The 44-year-old previously worked at Manchester City, with Pep Guardiola backing him to become an ‘extraordinary manager’ during his time at the club.
Maresca served as one of Guardiola’s assistant managers between 2022 and 2023 but it was his work with the club’s youth side that drew his biggest praise, with Guardiola comparing him to Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta.
In August 2020, Maresca joined City as the manager of their Elite Development Squad with the club’s Under-23 side winning the Premier League 2 under his guidance that season.
Guardiola said in May 2021: ‘We are delighted with Enzo Maresca, all the organisation he has done with the EDS [elite development squad], he showed he will become an extraordinary manager in the future. Extraordinary.
‘I feel it. Like I felt it when I saw Mikel Arteta I see it with Enzo, [he] will be an extraordinary manager and he helped to develop many, many young players.’
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