Jadon Sancho’s fast start worsens Enzo Maresca’s selection headache

Sancho’s arrival at Chelsea prompted questions of both their transfer strategy and whether the winger was capable of getting back to the kind of level that convinced United to shell out £73 million ($96m) for his services just three years ago.

It is, of course, early days, but the player responded emphatically to any doubts over his ability and value to the Blues in a debut cameo against Bournemouth, inspiring his new side to victory. Introduced as a half-time substitute for the ineffective Neto, Sancho tormented his defender throughout the second period with his unpredictable dribbling and provided the match-winning assist for Christopher Nkunku with minutes to go.

In his 45 minutes on the pitch, Sancho played 17 passes in the final third, won two duels, created two openings and maintained a 92 percent pass accuracy. All of that and his simple ball to tee up Nkunku’s crucial strike earned him the Man of the Match award, despite the fact he only played half the game.

Could Maresca be the man to consistently get the best out of Sancho in the Premier League? Time will tell, but this was a promising start and a far cry from his subdued displays in a Manchester United shirt.

“I get the feeling that Jadon is a guy who needs love when I spoke to him before he joined us,” the head coach said following the Bournemouth victory. “Also, I know that he has the desire to show the player that he is. For me he just needs to enjoy football. That is the reason he plays, to be happy when he plays football. Then because he is good, he wants to do good things.”

Sancho, too, seems determined to make his mark early: “It is amazing to make my debut for Chelsea and just be back playing,” he said. “I am very grateful. I have been working hard for this moment and I am happy that I got my chance.”

Asked if this was simply an opportunity to get back to enjoying his football, he added: “Yeah that is it. I had a great end to last season, being in the Champions League final, and I told myself going into this season that I wanted to have a great start to the season, and this is my first game so to get a win for Chelsea and obviously to make my debut too.”

Sancho, then, is looking like a potential starter among Chelsea’s wealth of attacking options, but that is far from the only selection facing Maresca in the early stages of the new campaign.

Nkunku – who has had to be patient under the Italian as he is eased back after an injury-hit 2023-24 campaign – staked his own claim for a starting place in an even shorter cameo than Sancho’s, outshining and out-scoring the wasteful Nicolas Jackson despite only being introduced with a little over 10 minutes left to go of the clash on the south coast.

Although he has a reputation as an all-action second striker who will supply goals and assists in abundance, Nkunku demonstrated his potential to be the out-and-out penalty-box poacher that Chelsea have been desperately lacking in recent times as he snatched the winning goal – creating an opening for himself out of basically nothing.

Jackson has started the season well, scoring twice in four league games, but this was a timely reminder that Nkunku is a cut above when fit and can be the prolific hitman the club has been missing.

At present, Cole Palmer and in-form Noni Madueke are the other near-certain starters in the Blues’ attacking quartet, with the former in the No.10 role and the latter on the right wing. Based on what we’ve seen so far, Sancho and Neto will likely rotate on the left and Nkunku and Jackson may role-share as No.9s.

That leaves a significant question mark over where another new signing, £46m ($61m) man Felix, will fit. The versatile attacker was a substitute against Bournemouth and didn’t make much of an impact in his half-hour on the pitch.

At 24 and at a crucial juncture in a career that has gone off track, it feels unlikely that Felix will be willing to settle for a rotation role under Maresca, but his route to becoming a regular starter looks the most obstructed unless he can discover the kind of consistency that has eluded him up to this point.

Midfielder Enzo Fernandez will also be feeling the heat having flattered to deceive so far in 2023-24; he faces the threat of losing his place in the team if Palmer is fielded as the advanced playmaker, with both Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia pushing for a place in the XI, too.

Much will depend on Madueke’s form; if the newly-capped England international suffers a downturn, then Palmer could be shifted to his preferred right-wing role and the attacking midfield position could open up.

Much, too, will depend on work ethic away from the glare of the cameras on matchday. Maresca must be acutely aware that he is juggling a number of self-confident young attackers with big egos, whom he must simultaneously keep happy and get the best out of.

The head coach has tried to lay down the law already, saying recently: “Listen, we have Jadon [Sancho], Joao [Felix], these kinds of players. Before they joined the club, I had a chat with them, and one of my messages to them was ‘if you come here and don’t work properly then you are not going to play’.

“Before they arrived, the message for them was clear. For Jadon. For Joao. But [I told them] the reason why I’m speaking to you is because I really like you. If you come here in the way that we want, we are happy. But if you come here and don’t work hard, it’s better if you don’t come.”

But what of those who already seem to be out of the picture for a starting place? The ridiculous attacking depth at Maresca’s disposal means the path to a starting place is long and winding if you are already out of favour at this early stage, and two players in particular find themselves on the back foot.

Mykhailo Mudryk has been afforded just 60 minutes of action in the Premier League so far, with his new head coach outspoken in his criticism that has been thinly veiled as encouragement. However, since Sancho’s arrival, the Ukraine str seems to have been pushed further down the pecking order as an option on the left wing.

Meanwhile, ex-Barcelona man Guiu – who is only 18 years old, in fairness – has not seen any league game time since an opening-day cameo against Man City, with both Jackson and Nkunku above him in the No.9 hierarchy.

Thankfully Chelsea are in the Conference League this season as they return to Europe, so there will be opportunities for both to prove their worth, but at this point it is difficult to see either forcing their way into Maresca’s strongest team.

The Italian tactician has already shown a willingness to exile unwanted players, so Mudryk and Guiu could be playing for their Chelsea careers over the next few months.

Ultimately, Maresca’s selections should always come down to form. Although Chelsea’s summer wheeling and dealing was excessive at best, they have managed to assemble a fearsome attack with the depth to compete on multiple fronts.

You can only assume that this is a long-term play, with each member of the frontline considered to be high-potential and under the age of 25. If they develop together and the Blues return to the Champions League in the not-too-distant future, then they will consider themselves well prepared – especially with wonderkid Estevao Willian arriving from Palmeiras next year.

In the short-term, it seems Maresca’s attacking configuration will be fluid, with that ridiculous strength in depth enabling him to rotate based on form and the quality of an opponent – but that doesn’t make the challenge of managing such a wealth of talent any easier.