The question was about Tyrique George. Enzo Maresca was happy to engage with it and to praise his winger, but he really wanted to talk about another Chelsea teenager.
“I’m very happy first of all for the Chelsea academy because it’s one of our boys from the academy so I’m very happy for him,” Maresca said of 19-year-old George in his press conference after a 3-0 win over Legia Warsaw in the first leg of their Conference League quarter-final tie on Thursday. “He was quite good in the first half, taking responsibility. Then, second half in the middle (as a No 9), he was a bit better.
“But the one that I fell in love (with) is Josh Acheampong because potentially, he can be a fantastic player, a top player for this club, (and) for football in general. A good player shows you they can play in different positions and do good. He was a full-back, good, midfielder, good, central defender, good, so it’s not about, ‘I play in that position or in that position’ — if you are a good player you can be in different positions.
“Since we started, I’m in love with him but (against Legia) he showed that he can be a very good player.”
Love affairs, like footballers, are rarely linear in their development. Maresca signalled his high regard for Acheampong by assessing him during Chelsea’s pre-season tour of the United States, and then again by elevating him back into the first-team picture soon after his contract standoff, which had frozen him out of match action, was resolved in December.
A first Premier League start followed away at Crystal Palace in early January, and Maresca promptly labelled Acheampong the best player on the pitch in Chelsea’s 1-1 draw at Selhurst Park. Within 10 days, the perception of his trajectory had changed — Acheampong struggled against a rampant Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge and Maresca substituted him in the 71st minute, shortly after he had failed to contain Antoine Semenyo for the visitors’ second goal in a 2-2 draw.
In almost three months between that game and Thursday in Warsaw, Acheampong has been on the pitch for 55 minutes across three matches. His only start, against Copenhagen at Stamford Bridge in the Conference League round of 16 last month, ended at half-time. Maresca insisted the substitution was down to broader tactical considerations, but his choice left little room to envision a significant role for the 18-year-old in the defining stretch of Chelsea’s season.
Beyond that, Acheampong’s rapid rise and equally precipitous fall in the first two weeks of January lent itself to the more cynical notion that Maresca might have wanted to send a message to Chelsea about the need for defensive reinforcements in the winter market. Wesley Fofana was out and centre-back targets, most notably Palace’s Marc Guehi, were being explored.
Maresca would not have been the first Chelsea coach to deploy such methods. But his appreciation of Acheampong has always felt sincere, fitting neatly into his specific veneration of versatility in high-level footballers. Can you understand the game in multiple positions, and can you perform in multiple roles during a match?
Acheampong showcased those qualities in abundance against Legia. Starting at right-back but operating for the most part as the right of a three-man defence in possession, his decision-making with and without the ball was almost flawless. When the opportunity arose to carry the ball forward amid a steady diet of safe possessional passes, he pushed himself through and around pressure with a progressive first touch.
Chelsea’s best chance of an otherwise forgettable first half came from an Acheampong surge: having driven into a crossing position on the right, he cut the ball back perfectly into the unmarked feet of Cole Palmer. When the England international’s shot was smothered, the ball ran free for Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who forced a flying save with a curling effort.
During the second half, Maresca’s substitutions pushed Acheampong into the base of midfield from defence, and the 18-year-old bounced passes unerringly to Chelsea team-mates amid the traffic. On the very rare occasions when he misread the terrain, club captain Reece James was on hand to dispense some constructive advice. It found willing ears.
‘The best thing about Josh is that he’s open, he wants to learn,” Maresca added after the Legia win. “’Full-back? ‘No problem, what do I have to do?’. Perfect, midfielder, ‘What do I have to do?’. Good players want to play in all positions, they want to learn and Josh is doing that since we started.”
Such praise is hugely encouraging for Acheampong but also a positive development for Maresca, who has not always come across as enthusiastic about Chelsea’s academy talent. His touchline frustration with George has been startlingly visible at times and his comments about Chelsea’s struggles to create in the first half against Copenhagen in the previous round seemed to draw a straight line to the presence of George and Shim Mheuka in the team.
But George has been developing under Maresca, gaining confidence as well as knowledge. At 17, Mheuka is even younger but added more meaningful first-team minutes off the bench against Legia. Conference League football is close to an ideal proving ground given Chelsea’s vast superiority over all of their opponents, and their head coach has generally found the right balance of game time.
Love can be productive even when it could be called tough, and Maresca’s nuanced handling of Acheampong and George may have given Chelsea two more players capable of meaningful contributions. It could even help Chelsea achieve the dual goals of a top-five Premier League finish and lifting the Conference League. Considering the stakes on both fronts, that is no small benefit.
(Top photo: Piotr Hawalej/Getty Images)
