Jadon Sancho left red-faced as Chelsea new boy opens up on first Enzo Maresca meeting

Jadon Sancho has already made his first blunder since joining Chelsea on loan from Manchester United after revealing how he first met his new boss Enzo Maresca.

The 24-year-old signed late on transfer deadline day in a season-long loan deal, with the Blues obligated to complete a permanent deal worth between £20million and £25million if certain conditions are met.

In his first interview with the west London club, Sancho claimed it was the influence of Maresca that swayed him towards heading to Stamford Bridge this summer.

“I think it’s the manager who really drew me to the project,” Sancho told the club’s official website. “I knew him from when I was at Man City when he was with Pep [Guardiola].

“He spoke to me on the phone about this project and what he was building here, and for a young player like myself it’s exciting and I can’t wait to get started.”

However, there is a small issue with Sancho’s version of events. The winger left City in 2017 in an £8m deal to join Borussia Dortmund when he was just 17 years of age.

It wasn’t actually until September 2020 that Maresca was hired by the club, meaning Sancho couldn’t have met the Italian at the Eastlands outfit because he was in Germany at the time, while Maresca was employed by Sevilla as a coach. Only later did he take charge of City’s development squad in 2020-21.

What is accurate is that Guardiola was in charge when Sancho first broke onto the scene in English football as a highly-rated youth prospect. The Catalan tactician also had several assistants during his reign at the Etihad Stadium, which suggests it could have been a simple case of mistaken identity for Sancho.

His comments may not reflect too well on Maresca, 44, who is under pressure to deliver after an underwhelming start to his managerial career, given that the pair seemingly hadn’t met before he began training at Cobham this week.

The ex-Leicester boss lost his first game in charge against City with a 2-0 home defeat, before bouncing back to beat Wolves 6-2 at Molineux. But a draw against Crystal Palace last time out highlighted several issues in the squad, chiefly a lack of a world-class striker.

While the Blues pulled off a coup to land Sancho for a relatively low fee, the club’s recruitment chiefs failed to sign Victor Osimhen and Samu Omorodion in the transfer window.

As for Sancho, he will be hoping to get more football under Maresca after his infamous fallout with Erik ten Hag at United saw him left out of their matchday squad last season before returning to Dortmund on loan in January.

But the former England international now faces another battle for a first-team place, with the likes of Pedro Neto, Joao Felix, Mykhaylo Mudryk, Christopher Nkunku, Noni Madueke and Cole Palmer all vying for a start.