Storm clouds over Chelsea are far from dissipating. Midway through a lackluster season, the Blues crashed out of the FA Cup after going down 2-1 to Brighton-a result that only piles on the pressure on Enzo Maresca. The head coach, who was already coming under the spotlight for the Blues' inconsistent performances in the Premier League, is under siege by a new debate: was João Félix's loan to Milan a mistake?
Follow Playing for 90 on X (Twitter).
A reality check for Chelsea
This elimination didn't just knock Chelsea out of the tournament-it exposed weaknesses that go far beyond the scoreboard. The team is struggling with a lack of offensive creativity, an inability to convert chances, and now an attack weakened by injuries. When asked if the squad misses João Félix, Maresca didn't shy away from the topic, but his response was at best pragmatic.
The weight of a miscalculated decision
Maresca insists that loaning out the Portuguese forward was only a tactical issue. He wishes for defensive equilibrium and believes that João Félix didn't fit into his system. Enough. Reality works in strange manners to prove these coaches wrong, sometimes.
The reality is that, whatever system Maresca had in mind, Chelsea simply do not have trustworthy attacking options. Yet he was willing to give up a player who could have made the difference in tight games. Now he has to explain a season defined by offensive inefficiency and results that do nothing but fuel skepticism.
Injuries and excuses
First-team coach Maresca tried to explain the early FA Cup exit and Chelsea's attacking ills as being partly because of the very late withdrawal from the Brighton game of Nicolas Jackson. But, really-can any club that does hundreds of millions of pounds' worth of business in the transfer market be expected to rely that heavily on one forward? If so, then the situation is far greater than João Félix missing.
Injuries are an easy alibi. At this level, top clubs need depth, intelligent squad management, and contingency plans. The most vital commodity in football comes with injuries, and Chelsea, being the big club that it is, should have solutions up their sleeve instead of falling apart at the first sign of adversity. The fact that they haven't says volumes about poor roster planning.
Maresca's smokescreen
One of the more eyebrow-raising moments in Maresca’s press conference was his almost diplomatic take on João Félix’s exit: “He’s happy there, and we’re happy that he’s happy there.”
For Chelsea fans, the words probably just sting. What, after all, is the good of João Félix's happiness in Italy when Chelsea are struggling with a lack of attacking options? Is the club in the business of doing other teams favors, or is it supposed to be building a competitive squad?
The feeling is that Maresca is deflecting attention from the real issue: Chelsea's chronic instability. The team has no identity, veering wildly between decent performances and absolute disasters, continuing to make questionable decisions as if they were just routine missteps.
The question by now isn't whether Chelsea misses João Félix-it's whether they had a good plan in the first place.