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Enzo Maresca makes 13-word joke about Todd Boehly, Behdad Eghbali and Chelsea buyout situation

Enzo Maresca in a Chelsea press conference
-Credit: (Image: Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC)


Despite all the chaos behind the scenes at Chelsea, Enzo Maresca came out for his press conference in a jubilant mood.

Whether it was the Friday feeling or the fact Premier League football is returning after a two-week break, the first words we heard from Maresca was a joke. A journalist said to the head coach, "Right on time", with the Italian arriving for his press conference bang on the 1pm scheduled time.

And that prompted a snappy response from Maresca. "It's because I really appreciate you're not going to ask about the owners," Maresca said, followed by a laugh.

It was a light-hearted moment from the Blues boss which definitely lightened the mood in what turned out to be a pretty serious press conference. Of course, there were numerous questions fielded to Maresca about the club's ownership situation.

Over the past week, it has become public that Todd Boehly, a 13% shareholder in Chelsea, and Behdad Eghbali, the co-founder of Clearlake Capital, are involved in somewhat of a cultural divide. There have been reports that Boehly wants to buy Clearlake's share - of 62% - out, but the private equity firm will not consider selling, football.london understands.

Maresca, given his media responsibilities, was always going to be asked about the matter. Understandably, though, the Italian did not give too much away and was instead clarifying that his and his players' focus is on the football, with a match against Bournemouth on Saturday evening.

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When asked about what he has made of the reports in recent days, Maresca said: "I said many times, I try to be as honest as possible. If I spend my energy about something different, I don't think it's worth it. My focus is just on tomorrow's game, to be honest.

"In the last week, I try to do exactly the same; focusing on the way we want to prepare the game, in the best way. The other things, they are things I cannot control."