WEST BROM’S team of 1998-99 may seem an unlikely breeding ground for future Chelsea managers.
But Enzo Maresca is following in the footsteps of his former Baggies team-mate Graham Potter by being appointed to take charge at Stamford Bridge by American owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali.
Full-back Potter used to give teenaged midfielder Maresca a lift to training, after his free transfer from Cagliari.
Now he will see his former colleague take the Chelsea job from which he was sacked in April last year.
Denis Smith, the Albion manager who brought Maresca to England as a teenager, said: “That’s now two Chelsea managers who have come from that West Brom team I managed — so I must have been teaching them something right!”
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West Brom finished mid- table in the old First Division — now the Championship — before Smith was sacked.
Yet they ended up pocketing a club-record £4million by selling Maresca to Juventus the following season.
And former Sunderland boss Smith reckons the Italian showed a rare footballing intelligence — even then.
Smith, 76, recalled: “I had already brought another Italian — Mario Bortolazzi — to West Brom and the agent asked me to have a look at an 18-year-old kid who was available on a free.
“He trained with us for less than half an hour and I told the agent, ‘He’ll do me!’
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“Enzo could barely speak English but it didn’t matter. He was clearly a bright kid and, boy, could he pick a pass.
“If you wanted him to sit in and play as a holding midfielder, he understood that role so well, but he was also very useful going forward. He had pretty much everything.
“We got him for free but West Brom ended up selling him to Juventus for a lot of money — after I had been sacked!
“Most of the time we were together, I used the other Italian lad (Bortolazzi) as a translator.
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“But Enzo just had such intelligence that it didn’t feel like communication was an issue.
“He was only young but when someone reads the game like he could, it doesn’t surprise you when they go on to be successful as a coach and manager.
“There weren’t many players coming over from Europe to the First Division back then in the 90s.
“But it was a good market of mine, as we proved with Maresca. It was a bold move for him to come to England at such a young age but that intelligence made it easy for him to settle over here.
We got him for free but West Brom ended up selling him to Juventus for a lot of money — after I had been sacked!
Denis Smith
“Professional footballers — as I often tell people — are a more intelligent bunch than they are given credit for and Enzo was one of the brightest.”
Maresca would go on to win Serie A with Juventus and two Uefa Cups with Sevilla before he managed Manchester City’s reserves under Pep Guardiola.
After a brief unsuccessful spell in charge of Italian Serie B club Parma, Maresca led Leicester to the Championship title last season.
After Chelsea triggered his £10million Foxes release clause, 44-year-old Maresca is following Potter into the Stamford Bridge hotseat — vacated by Mauricio Pochettino earlier this month.
And their old boss Smith — who also managed York, Bristol City, Oxford and Wrexham — said: “They go through a lot of managers at Chelsea but, however impatient they are, it is still a job Enzo will feel he had to take.
“They are one of the biggest clubs in Europe and anyone with ambition would want a crack at it.
“The best coaches and managers are the ones who recognise that football is such a complex game but can deliver their messages in simple terms to players without over-complicating it.
“That is an ability that Graham Potter has and it doesn’t surprise me that Maresca has it, too.”
