Why Chelsea's sporting directors are getting praise for "controversial decision" and more

Today at 02:00 PM

Jacob Steinberg's interesting piece today in the Guardian is all about Enzo Maresca and the Chelsea project as a whole as we reach a big game which could be a marker of how far this team has come.

So far they've done great in most of their games against the lesser teams, but they've lost both of their matches against top sides. Manchester United are not on the level of Man City or Liverpool, but a win at Old Trafford would be the biggest result under Maresca so far.

The Blues have the squad to pull off such a win, perhaps no surprise after more than a billion spent. But after taking a lot of criticism for what they spent and how they spent it, sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley are starting to see the fruits of their labours get some appreciation at last it seems:

"There is praise from within for Stewart and Winstanley," Steinberg writes, citing sources at the club.

"They took the controversial decision to move on from Pochettino after judging the campaign as a whole. They have had their critics but the sense is that Chelsea are getting more right than wrong now. Every manager depends on their players and Maresca has, in the words of one ally, inherited a "bloody good squad".

Stewart and Winstanley getting praise for squad building at last

There are still countless decisions which we think could have been done differently, or better. But a lot of their most controversial calls have come as a result of the strategy being decided from above even their level at the club. If they'd been told to overhaul the squad in 5 years rather than 2, they might have done things a little more in line with how many fans would like to see it.