Chelsea news: Claude Makelele singles out Enzo Maresca "genius" with newfound goalscoring prowess

Chelsea legend Claude Makelele has exclusively singled out a "genius" in Enzo Maresca's ranks to Sports Mole after the player in question elevated his goalscoring game to new heights in the early stages of the 2025-26 season.

Enzo Maresca's men settled for a 2-2 Champions League draw with Qarabag on Wednesday night after earning a 1-0 Premier League victory over Tottenham Hotspur, who succumbed to a Joao Pedro winner in North London.

The Club World Cup winners restricted a tepid Tottenham side to a mere 0.05 Expected Goals during the all-capital clash, Spurs' lowest-ever total on record in a Premier League match since data became available in 2012.

Key to the Blues' success last time out in the Premier League was Ecuadorian midfielder Moises Caicedo, who robbed Micky van de Ven of possession to engineer Pedro's winning goal and was exemplary in all facets of the game, registering two tackles five interceptions and seven recoveries.

Earlier on in the year, Caicedo scored three goals in the first seven gameweeks of the 2025-26 Premier League season, more than he managed in each of the last two campaigns combined (two in 73 games).

Claude Makelele: 'Genius Moises Caicedo is my son, but he is not me!'

Caicedo's feats have inevitably drawn comparisons to the legendary France international, who can see the similarities between him and the South American but stopped short of calling him the new Makelele.

“He’s my son!" Makelele joked when asked by Sports Mole if he saw any of him in Caicedo. "I see talent, the way he plays. Aggressive with the ball, the way he manages to help his teammates, the security. Of course he has something similar, but he's not me!

“The way I see him, he's a genius boy. And all his teammates love him because he's a simple guy.”

After initially struggling to justify his £115m price tag, Caicedo has blossomed into one of the Premier League's most celebrated defensive midfielders and was named the Blues' Player of the Season and Players' Player of the Season for the 2024-25 campaign.

Such is his importance to the Club World Cup winners, the former Brighton & Hove Albion man started 65 consecutive Premier League games for Chelsea between December 26, 2023 and October 18, 2025 - he was dropped to the bench against Nottingham Forest on the latter date.

The statistics behind Moises Caicedo's excellent 2025-26 season

As was the case with Makelele - the original 'water carrier' - chipping in with goals and assists is not Caicedo's primary job, but the 24-year-old has stepped up to the plate in that regard this season.

Caicedo averages a goal or assist every three matches in the current season - scoring four of his own and setting up one more in 15 appearances all tournaments - a threat that he has enhanced since his time on the South Coast with Brighton.

Unsurprisingly, the Ecuador international is unrivalled in one particular defensive category, making more interceptions (25) than any other Premier League player this season - Bournemouth's Marcos Senesi is next on the list with 18.

Furthermore, only Tottenham's Joao Palhinha (44) and Crystal Palace's Tyrick Mitchell (32) have made more tackles than Caicedo's 31 in the English top flight this term, and the Blues lynchpin also sits in the top 10 for passes into the final third with 51.

Claude Makelele was speaking to Sports Mole on behalf of bet365, the official global partner of the UEFA Champions League,