Enzo Maresca has revealed what he wants from his three Chelsea strikers ahead of the Club World Cup semi-final with Fluminense.
The Blues have been busy in the market so far and have already added three attackers – two strikers – to the squad.
After Nicolas Jackson was sent off against Flamengo in the group stage – his second dismissal in three games – many fans wanted to see the back of the Senegalese forward.
Whilst he hasn’t departed, the pressure on him has certainly intensified with the arrival of Joao Pedro and Liam Delap from Brighton and Ipswich respectively.
Both men have already debuted for Chelsea in Jackson’s absence at the Club World Cup, with Pedro in particular impressing on his debut.
Maresca said: “For sure, Joao, Liam and Nico know exactly the No.9s at Chelsea . In my idea, I prefer to have all five players scoring 10 or 12 goals each rather than one striker scoring 40 goals. We expect more goals next season from our attacking players.
“Nico is training well. In almost the last two games he played, he was sent off. He is working well. He played the Conference League final and scored.”
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Nicolas Jackson has now received more cards (4) than he has direct goal involvements (3) in the Premier League in 2025. 😡<a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/NEWCHE?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#NEWCHE</a> <a href=”https://t.co/HBKEcosIQy”>pic.twitter.com/HBKEcosIQy</a></p>— WhoScored (@WhoScored) <a href=”https://twitter.com/WhoScored/status/1921530819434217719?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>May 11, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
Noni Madueke has reportedly agreed personal terms with London rivals Arsenal this week, fuelling rumours that he is set to depart following the arrival of Jamie Bynoe-Gittens from Borussia Dortmund.
However, the two clubs are yet to begin transfer proceedings whilst the Blues are believed to want a £50m fee for the winger who they bought for £28.5m just over two years ago.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>🚨 Noni Madueke agrees personal terms with Arsenal as they consider approaching Chelsea for England int’l. <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/AFC?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#AFC</a> have 23yo green light + strong relations with <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/CFC?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#CFC</a> but no club-to-club talks yet. Firm option to bolster on both wings. W/ <a href=”https://twitter.com/SebSB?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@SebSB</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/TheAthleticFC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@TheAthleticFC</a> <a href=”https://t.co/d1ZrHPwyMD”>https://t.co/d1ZrHPwyMD</a></p>— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) <a href=”https://twitter.com/David_Ornstein/status/1941508121811353814?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>July 5, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
Maresca said on the speculation: “Personally I think [there was] the same noise before the Palmeiras game, and we gave him half an hour and he was very good. I don’t have any doubts that if we need Noni, he will help us. I can understand when there is noise around you, it is difficult to deal with that.”
Fluminense are the third team from Brazil that Chelsea will face in this tournament, and the South Americans have put out a great account for themselves with all Brazilian teams making out of their groups.
So far, the Londoners have one win (2-1 vs Palmeiras) and one loss (1-3 vs Flamengo) against the Brazilians.
Maresca said: “From any game you can learn things; from different countries and managers. You can always learn. The first two Brazilian teams were very good with lots and lots of energy and we think it will be the same tomorrow.”