Chelsea can 'dominate' English soccer in next 5-10 years after $1B spend, Maresca says

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca believes the club has the platform to “dominate” English soccer in the coming years.

Maresca on Tuesday repeated his assertion that Chelsea shouldn’t be deemed a contender in the Premier League title race, even though his team is third in the standings and tied on points with second-placed Arsenal. They are nine points behind Liverpool.

However, the Italian coach was more bullish about Chelsea’s long-term prospects.

“The good thing is, I still think what I said to the owners and the sporting director the first time I met them,” said Maresca, who joined Chelsea in June. “Because of the age and because of how good the squad is, for me Chelsea in the next five to 10 years will be one of the teams — or the team — to dominate English football.

“This is what I said to the club the first time I met them. No matter who will be the manager.”

Chelsea has spent well over $1 billion on around 40 players in an unprecedented and at times chaotic spree across five transfer windows since a consortium fronted by Los Angeles Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital bought the Premier League club from its long-time owner, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, for $3.2 billion in May 2022.

Many of the signings are young, such as 23-year-olds Nicolas Jackson, Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo, and 22-year-old Cole Palmer.

Maresca is the fourth different full-time manager in the new regime, and the first to get consistent performances out of the expensively assembled group of players.

Chelsea has won seven of its 13 Premier League games and lost just two of them — to defending champion Manchester City before its unlikely freefall, and Liverpool.

Maresca still thinks Chelsea shouldn’t be put in the same category as Liverpool and Arsenal just yet, denying it is just a ploy to take the pressure off his players.

“They (Arsenal) have been there the last two years, very close to City, and we were very far to City,” Maresca said, when asked why Chelsea shouldn’t have the same expectations as Arsenal.

“To be in the title race is nice pressure for me and the players. It’s not the kind of pressure that you don’t like. It’s the kind of pressure you like because you are in the title race. But that’s not our case.

“Hopefully soon we can be there.”

Chelsea visits last-placed Southampton on Wednesday, while Arsenal is at home to Manchester United, and Liverpool is away to Newcastle.

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Chelsea's head coach Enzo Maresca, centre, and Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez celebrate after the English Premier League soccer match between Chelsea and Aston Villa at the Stamford Bridge stadium in London, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Chelsea and Aston Villa at the Stamford Bridge stadium in London, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Chelsea's Nicolas Jackson celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Leicester City and Chelsea at King Power stadium in Leicester, England, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)

Chelsea's Cole Palmer, right, celebrates after scoring his side's third goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Chelsea and Aston Villa at the Stamford Bridge stadium in London, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Chelsea's head coach Enzo Maresca reacts during the English Premier League soccer match between Leicester City and Chelsea at King Power stadium in Leicester, England, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)

Chelsea's head coach Enzo Maresca celebrates after the English Premier League soccer match between Chelsea and Aston Villa at the Stamford Bridge stadium in London, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Israeli forces have killed two Palestinian militants who carried out a deadly attack on a bus in the West Bank earlier this month.

The Israeli military said Thursday that the two men barricaded themselves in a structure in the West Bank village of Burqin and exchanged fire with Israeli troops before they were killed overnight. The army said a soldier was moderately wounded.

The military said Mohammed Nazzal and Katiba al-Shalabi were operatives with the Islamic Jihad militant group.

The Hamas militant group released a statement claiming the two men were members of its armed wing and praising the bus attack. Hamas and the smaller and more radical Islamic Jihad are allies that sometimes carry out attacks together.

The Jan. 6 attack on the bus carrying Israelis killed three people and wounded six others.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want it to form the main part of their future state.

Here's the latest:

TEL AVIV — A survivor of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack will represent Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Switzerland in May.

Yuval Raphael, 24, won first place in a singing contest on Israeli television that determines Israel’s entry to Eurovision, a pan-continental pop extravaganza. She won with a performance of the Swedish group ABBA’s pop hit “Dancing Queen,” which she dedicated to the victims of the attack.

Raphael survived the Nova music festival in southern Israel as Palestinian militants stormed the event, killing hundreds and taking many hostage during Hamas’ cross-border raid. She has testified in the Israeli parliament about her experience on Oct. 7. She described hiding from gunmen under piles of dead bodies for eight hours, and said “I’m going to deal with this thing for the rest of my life.”

Last year’s Eurovision was overshadowed by the war in Gaza, with large demonstrations protesting Israel’s participation. Israel’s representative, Eden Golan, who ended up taking fifth place in the competition, was kept under tight security.

BUDAPEST, Hungary - Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Thursday that Israel would not compromise on its objectives of dismantling Hamas’ military and governing capabilities, and that there were no guarantees for the success of the three-phase cease fire in the war in the Gaza Strip.

Speaking alongside his Hungarian counterpart in Budapest, Hungary, Saar said Hamas leaders had declared their intent to carry out more attacks on Israel similar to the deadly raids on Oct. 7, 2023, and could therefore not be allowed to retain any military capabilities.

“They are committed to the idea of eliminating the Jewish state,” Saar said. “Israel will not accept Hamas’ rule in Gaza. As long as Hamas remains in power, there will be no peace, security or stability in the Middle East.”

“We hope that the framework for the hostage release will continue until its end, but of course I cannot guarantee that,” he continued. “We will not abandon our objectives.”

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Although the ceasefire in Gaza has brought an influx of humanitarian aid and a rare respite from Israeli bombardment, it has done little to change the miserable conditions endured by most of the 2 million people displaced by fighting.

The winter weather has compounded the hardships of those eking out an existence in tattered tents and makeshift shelters. Heavy rains were flooding tents across the territory, leaving Palestinians shivering in the cold.

At one makeshift camp in the central city of Deir al-Balah, the downpour Thursday quickly soaked through flimsy tents that seemed to float on pools of muck. Some used sandbags to keep their tents from washing away, while others tried to clear the huge puddles of mud outside their shelters. Barefoot children trod through paths that had become filthy rivers. A cacophony of coughs emanated from every corner, raising concerns about the spread of illness.

Tareq Deifallah, a displaced resident in Deir al-Balah originally from Beit Hanoun, in northern Gaza, said water was seeping through his tent from all sides. He said “the truce is useless” when it came to changing his living conditions.

“Before the truce we were suffering, after the truce we are suffering, from the rain and the winter,” Deifallah said.

Monira Faraj, a mother of two young girls, said rain flooded her tent and soaked through her mattress as her family was sleeping.

“We’re afraid we’re going to drown if it becomes too much,” she said.

Residents of the tent camp said they had no choice but to stay put. Even though the ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war that took effect Sunday allows Palestinians displaced by the fighting to return to their homes, those who set out to check on their houses in recent days said they found only ruins.

DAMASCUS, Syria — A commercial plane from Turkey landed in Damascus for the first time in 13 years on Thursday, Syrian state media said.

The Turkish Airlines plane flew from Istanbul to the Syrian capital, SANA reported, two weeks after the first international commercial flight landed, from Qatar, since former Syrian President Bashar Assad’s fall.

Ankara backed opposition groups in northwestern Syria that fought against Assad and his allies during the uprising-turned-conflict and never restored ties, even when most Mideast countries did in 2023.

Now Turkey, a key ally of the new authorities under the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, has expressed its intention to invest in Syria’s economy and help its ailing electricity and energy sectors.

JERUSALEM — Israel’s ambassador to the United States says the two countries are in talks about the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon as a deadline in the ceasefire with Hezbollah militants approaches. Israeli media have reported that Israel is seeking to postpone the completion of its pullout.

Michael Herzog said in an interview with Israeli Army Radio on Thursday that he believed Israel would “reach an understanding” with the Trump administration, without elaborating.

Under the U.S.-brokered ceasefire that ended more than a year of fighting linked to the war in the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces are supposed to complete their withdrawal from southern Lebanon by Sunday.

Israeli media have reported that Israel reached an understanding with the Biden administration on staying longer but that President Donald Trump is urging it to withdraw on time.

There was no immediate comment from the United States.

Israeli officials have said Lebanese troops are not deploying fast enough in the areas Israeli troops are supposed to vacate. Under the ceasefire, the Lebanese army is to patrol a buffer zone in southern Lebanon alongside United Nations peacekeepers.

Hezbollah has threatened to resume its rocket and drone fire if Israel does not withdraw on time.

The Al Jazeera news network says the Palestinian Authority arrested one of its reporters after preventing him from covering an Israeli operation in the occupied West Bank.

The Qatar-based news network reported Thursday that its reporter, Mohammed al-Atrash, was arrested from his home.

It said Palestinian security forces had earlier prevented him from reporting on a large Israeli military operation in Jenin, an epicenter of Israeli-Palestinian violence in recent years. The Palestinian Authority launched its own crackdown on militants in the city late last year.

There was no immediate comment from the Palestinian Authority.

Both Israel and the Western-backed Palestinian Authority banned Al Jazeera last year. Israel accuses it of being a mouthpiece of Hamas over its coverage of the war in the Gaza Strip and says some of its reporters are also militants.

The pan-Arab broadcaster has rejected the allegations and accused both Israel and the Palestinian Authority of trying to silence critical coverage.

The internationally recognized Palestinian Authority administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and cooperates with Israel on security matters. It is unpopular among Palestinians, with critics portraying it as a corrupt and authoritarian ally of Israel.

UNITED NATIONS – Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations believes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to Washington to meet President Donald Trump “in a few weeks.”

Danny Danon told reporters Wednesday: “I’m sure he would be one of the first foreign leaders invited to the White House.”

Danon said he expects their discussions to include the current ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and the release of hostages taken during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack in southern Israel.

FILE - Israeli soldiers take up positions next to the Philadelphi Corridor along the border with Egypt, in the Gaza Strip, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa, File)

Humanitarian aid trucks enter through the Kerem Shalom crossing from Egypt into the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, days after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas came into effect. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Humanitarian aid trucks enter through the Kerem Shalom crossing from Egypt into the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, days after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas came into effect. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)