Chelsea fans have a theory behind Enzo Maresca's blunt message immediately after returning to England

Chelsea fans have come up with a theory behind Enzo Maresca's message upon returning to England from the United States.

Chelsea have returned home following a pre-season tour of the US, where they played five games ahead of the 2024/25 campaign.

The Blues only managed one win in America following their 3-0 victory over Club America.

Maresca's team suffered defeats to Celtic, Manchester City and Real Madrid while they played out a fiery 2-2 draw with League One outfit Wrexham.

Chelsea have one more pre-season clash before entertaining Man City in their Premier League opener on August 18.

They host Inter Milan on Sunday in what will be Maresca's last chance to prepare his side ahead of the new season.

And as the Italian gaffer touched base at the club's training ground in Cobham, he said: "Finally back!"

Chelsea fans online believe Maresca's two-word message was a reference to the club's gruelling US pre-season schedule.

They spent two weeks in the States as fans think the 44-year-old is relieved to be back home.

One X user wrote: "You can hear and see the relief from Enzo Maresca that Chelsea are finally back in England. Comments throughout the tour, clearly he wasn’t entirely happy with the scheduling. Time to make a lot of progress in the 10 days or so before facing Man City."

A second tweeted: "He really wasn’t happy with our pre-season schedule was he. Don’t blame him."

A third added: "Guess he was eager to leave the US."

A fourth said: "No coach or players like pre-season in the US and yet we still do it for commercial purposes."

Another joked: "I’m screaming. He couldn’t wait to leave that place."

Maresca, who replaced Mauricio Pochettino this summer, has been tasked with restoring Chelsea's glory days following an underwhelming campaign last season.

They ended up in sixth place after finishing the campaign strong under Pochettino.

In his first campaign at Chelsea, Maresca will be without European football as he will be aiming for Champions League qualification next season.