Maresca wants new defender after Colwill injury but club unlikely to sign one

The job of a modern Premier League manager is to coach the players he has been given.

Long gone are the days, for better or worse, when Howard Wilkinson would pick up the phone to call Alex Ferguson about signing Denis Irwin only to end up selling Eric Cantona to Manchester United.

With that in mind, it has been surprising to see and hear Enzo Maresca speaking publicly about why Chelsea need to sign another centre-back, while admitting they are looking for "internal solutions".

The way Maresca sees it, Chelsea have to sign someone to cover for Levi Colwill while he recovers from a serious knee injury. The only problem is that Maresca is the Chelsea head coach and he is not in charge of transfer policy.

While he is a brilliant tactician with a proven track record of winning trophies and improving and developing players, he does not have the final say on who Chelsea buy and sell. The people who are in charge of that - Chelsea's football leadership team - may not necessarily share his point of view about signing another defender.

Their job is to build a squad of elite players which can cope with every eventuality, including a long-term injury to a key player. Judging by the fact that Chelsea won two trophies last season, including the Club World Cup, and qualified for the Champions League, they - and Maresca - seem to be doing a very good job.

That's a view that must be shared by Chelsea's owners, because why else would they extend the contracts of the club's sporting directors and recruitment chiefs on the eve of a new season?

The bottom line is that Chelsea feel they have an elite squad made up of the right blend of youth and experience. Recruitment is driven by the sporting team and they have total confidence in the squad they have assembled over a series of windows.

They will not sign another centre-back this summer, despite Colwill's injury, and the only way that will change is if a first-team squad central defender is sold in the next fortnight. Renato Veiga and Axel Disasi, who are not training with the first team, are already set to leave, so it would take another departure for Chelsea to consider signing a centre-back.

Chelsea have arguably one of the deepest squads in the Premier League and there are a lack of options of the required standard available in the current market. Another reason why they will not panic buy is that signing another defender just for the sake it would take away chances to play from the club's up-and-coming centre-backs.

In any case, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile and Josh Acheampong are expected to step up to play in Colwill's role and Maresca has 10 defenders in his squad and nine who can play as centre backs, including Jorrel Hato, who moved from Ajax last month.

Tosin, who is a doubt for the Crystal Palace game, is viewed inside the club as an elite defender with great leadership qualities, while Acheampong has the potential to be one of the breakout stars of the season.

Some seven or eight clubs have already tried to sign the 19-year-old and big things are also expected this season from Aaron Anselmino, who is only one year older. Signing another centre-back could also create problems with the balance of the squad when Colwill returns.

Maresca must know all this, so why is he speaking in public about wanting to sign another centre-back?

One reason could be that he is feeling more emboldened to speak his mind now that he has won two trophies. That is unlikely to work in his favour because Chelsea's recruitment strategy is not going to be driven by what their head coach says in public, no matter how many trophies he wins.

Another theory is that he is doing it to lower expectations and take a little bit of pressure off himself and his players before the start of a big season. He did something similar on a few occasions last season when he denied that Chelsea were in the title race and also that he had been given the target of qualifying for the Champions League in his first season.

Perhaps Maresca is just being honest and trying to give straight answers to straight questions. That makes good copy and is great news for journalists, but in modern football, free speech has become a privilege for employees, not a fundamental right.

Chelsea transfers

In

Jamie Gittens - Dortmund, £51.5m

Joao Pedro - Brighton, £60m

Liam Delap - Ipswich, £30m

Jorrel Hato - Ajax, £38.5m

Estevao Willian - Palmeiras, £29m

Dario Essugo - Sporting, £18.5m

Mamadou Sarr - RC Strasbourg, £12m

Kendry Paez - Independiente del Valle, £17.3m

Out

Kendry Paez - Strasbourg, loan

Djordje Petrovic - Bournemouth, £25m

Bashir Humphrey - Burnley, undisclosed

Marcus Bettinelli - Man City, undisclosed

Kepa Arrizabalga - Arsenal, £5m

Mathis Amougou - Strasbourg, undisclosed

Zak Sturge - Millwall, undisclosed

Noni Madueke - Arsenal, £52m

Caleb Wiley - Watford, loan

Mike Penders - RC Strasbourg, loan

Joao Felix - Al Nassr, £43.7m

Ishe Samuels-Smith - Strasbourg

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall - Everton, £29m

Lesley Ugochukwu - Burnley, undisclosed

Marc Guiu - Sunderland, loan

Armando Broja - Burnley, undisclosed