Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca is at odds with the club's key decision-makers, despite recent success on the pitch.
In an unprompted and unexpected declaration last week, Maresca stated that the 48 hours leading up to Chelsea's 2-0 win over Everton had been the worst he'd experienced as Blues boss.
Enzo Maresca's days as Chelsea boss are numbered
The Italian has been outspoken in recent weeks amid rumours that he and the Chelsea hierarchy haven't always seen eye-to-eye on topics such as transfers and the like.
Todd Boehly is understood to be a hands-on chairman, ensuring his voice is heard and influence felt around the various Stamford Bridge departments. Whether Maresca has taken issue with this previously is something only those inside the club will know, but since his appointment by the American financier as first-team boss, relations have clearly soured.
Then, there is Chelsea's recruitment apparatus, headed up by co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, whose reach, like Boehly's, is said to extend further than the areas in which their expertise is contained.
According to trusted reports, Maresca finds himself in a position where he feels overly scrutinised given the team's success in the Europa Conference League and Club World Cup earlier this year.
Factor in rumours of a fallout with star player Cole Palmer, who despite his reputation as the club's talisman, is not thought to be in the Chelsea hierarchy's good books either, and Maresca's position appears somewhat precarious.
Whilst relations between Palmer and Maresca appear to have thawed since the former's return to the team, a manager rowing with a star player gives club owners a decision to make if the relationship cannot be salvaged, or old wounds are reopened.
Palmer, contracted at Stamford Bridge until 2033, is Chelsea's prized asset and even if things aren't rosy behind the scenes with him, there is considerable value to protect. Managers tend to be treasured to a lesser extent, deemed disposable in a way players simply are not.
By airing the Blues' dirty laundry in public, and refusing to row back on his comments in a follow-up press conference, Maresca has painted a target on his back, some would argue indefinitely.
If there was increased scrutiny in the wake of Chelsea's fourth winless game in-a-row last week following defeat against Atalanta, it is only a matter of time before a similarly difficult run leads to the club parting ways with the Italian, because presently he doesn't seem to be towing the party line.
Maresca has at least made it difficult for the club's higher-ups to remove him from his post by sustaining the team's position in the Premier League's top four and has credit with supporters after this summer's silverware haul. The Blues are also highly likely to qualify for the next stage of the Champions League.
This has, to an extent, insulated Maresca from imminent boardroom action but it is difficult to imagine a world in which he outlasts the current regime, particularly if another big managerial name becomes available at a time when Chelsea are experiencing a lull in form.
Granted, going unbeaten between now and the end of the season to snatch the title away from champions-elect Arsenal, or by winning the Champions League, would probably make Maresca's job safe for an extended period, but that's not likely to happen.
Therefore, the smart money would be on Chelsea changing tack in the dugout in the short-to-medium term, ironically because of what's gone before off the pitch, rather than on it.
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