This season, several Chelsea players have improved following the arrival of Enzo Maresca at the club.
The likes of Moises Caicedo and Noni Madueke, for example, come to mind. Caicedo has been one of the best midfielders in the Premier League, while Madueke is starting to score goals for Chelsea.
The winger’s tap in against Manchester City over the weekend was his eighth of the season.
However, there is no doubt that under Maresca, one player has gone backwards: Malo Gusto.
Malo Gusto has regressed defensively and offensively under Enzo Maresca
Gusto impressed last season, filling in for the injured Reece James in the right-back position.
James, who has been linked to Real Madrid, has had more injury trouble this term, yet Maresca has still overlooked Gusto at times. In some games, he has even preferred centre-back Axel Disasi over the 21-year-old.
When Gusto has played, though, he has struggled, or at least compared to last season. Statistically, he is not performing as well in both halves of the pitch.
For example, in the current campaign, Gusto is making 1.7 tackles per league game, whereas last season he was averaging two. Going forward, he recorded 1.2 key passes per league game last term but is only averaging 0.6 now.
| Malo Gusto | Tackles | Clearances | Dribbled past | Key passes | Dribbles | Fouls won |
| 2024/25 | 1.7 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.7 |
| 2023/24 | 2 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 1.1 |
A change in role, with Gusto having to invert into midfield on occasions, is undoubtedly a contributing factor to his decrease in certain areas. But whatever the case, the France international has just not been as good as he was under Mauricio Pochettino.
Chelsea are happy with how Gusto is developing and he probably is ahead of schedule after arriving at Stamford Bridge as a 20-year-old. However, Maresca has certainly undone some of that progression.
Rio Ferdinand thought Malo Gusto was the best right-back in the Premier League last season
Again, Gusto was really good during the 2023/24 campaign, so good that Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand included the former Lyon man in his Premier League Team of the Season.
Ferdinand explained why he had selected Gusto, saying: “I think just for a young kid, how old is he, 20, the way he came out of nowhere and adjusted to the league immediately.
“I think Ben White’s a close second, but I am going to go for him, Gusto, because I think they haven’t missed Reece James this season in that role, no wonder I haven’t seen a lot of people talking about Reece James’ absence, and that tells you he must be playing well.”
At some point, hopefully Chelsea supporters get to see that Gusto again.
