Chelsea’s players will be bracing themselves for a major change in their diet following the appointment of Enzo Maresca as their new first-team manager.
Maresca was confirmed as the new Stamford Bridge boss on Monday on a five-year contract after leading Leicester to promotion from the Championship in his first senior job in English football.
Maresca is bringing along his Leicester staff, including fitness coach Marcos Alvarez – who has built a reputation as a strict dietician.
Alvarez, 53, previously worked at Sevilla, Parma and Tottenham, where he became known for keeping a close eye on the players’ dietary habits.
At Spurs, where he worked with Juande Ramos, Alvarez banned sauce, fruit juice, cake and salt and pepper. Meanwhile, he removed fried eggs from the breakfast menu at Leicester last season.
Chelsea confirmed the appointment of Enzo Maresca (photo) as manager on Monday
Maresca brings strict dietician and fitness coach Marcos Alvarez to Stamford Bridge
The changes at Tottenham soon led to a number of first-team players rioting and asking security staff to sneak into McDonald’s during pre-season.
Captain Ledley King was even sent by teammates to plead with the coaching staff to reverse the changes, although his pleas fell on deaf ears.
Ramos and Alvarez had achieved success in their methods while working together in Seville before making the move to North London in October 2007.
Speaking exclusively to Mail Sport in 2014, Ramos suggested a number of Spurs first-team stars were ‘fat’ before they arrived.
“It was incredible,” he said of the food provided to the team.
‘It looked like a wedding buffet. Cakes, pastries, sauces. Frankly, and I say this without any bitterness, there were players who were…well, fat. They were sedentary.
‘An athlete’s physical condition must be perfect, because you live off your body. Your food is your fuel. When I eat a cake, I fill up with diesel; an athlete must use super fuel.
‘There was of course some resistance; a guy, 22, 23 years old, with cash in his pocket, thinking, ‘And this guy comes here and tells me what to eat,’ we could see that.
“We trained in Chigwell and there’s a McDonald’s and we’d see them there, eating burgers and drinking Coca-Cola.”
Alvarez (left) joined Juande Ramos (centre) in October 2007 during his move to Tottenham
Spurs players soon began to rebel against the strict diets imposed by Alvarez
Alvarez himself also spoke about the situation at Spurs, explaining how the team was ‘100 kilos overweight’.
Speak with Air sports Alvarez said at the time, “The truth is, the first buffet I saw I took pictures because it was very interesting. Lots of sauces, lots of cakes, chocolate muffins, a box full of sweets. So we tried to put things right.
“When we arrived, we realized the team was carrying excess luggage. I made a very simple comparison with the Sevilla team we had worked with and, taking into account the size of the players, the team was actually 100 kilos heavier. So I spoke to Tottenham straight away and we set things in motion to change things.”
Former Spurs star Jamie O’Hara – who now works as a pundit at talkSPORT – reflected on the strict rules during an appearance on the radio programme.
O’Hara said, “When Juande Ramos came in, he banned ketchup and any sauce. He was big about it. It was dry pasta, chicken and that was the whole time he was there.
‘We went on a trip in the pre-season and that was tough when there is no sauce with anything. You only eat dry chicken, pasta. I remember the security guy, Alan Dixon, who is still there now, sneaking the guys out to get McDonald’s.
Chelsea’s stars will have to get used to the strict changes that are likely to be imposed
“He was funny on the salt too. No salt and pepper during dinner. It did make a difference because he did get better stats and we ran more, but in the end you lose the players because in the end they say, ‘I’ve had enough.’
Alvarez was the man behind all these changes and before his arrival at Chelsea, it is expected that similar changes could take place in West London.
Last season, Blues boss Mauricio Pochettino also monitored his players’ diets, but was much less strict when it came to sweet treats compared to Alvarez.
The Argentinian even held a barbecue for 130 people in March, with sausages, steaks and a variety of dishes from different countries, at the club’s training pitch.
