Chelsea players face strict diet under fitness coach who banned salt and pepper

Chelsea’s squad may be saying goodbye to their tastebuds for the foreseeable future under their new coaching staff.

The Blues have drafted in Enzo Maresca on a five-year deal, with the Italian becoming the club’s sixth manager following the club’s takeover under Todd Boehly in 2022.

And the 44-year-old has taken fitness coach Marcos Alvarez to Stamford Bridge with him from the King Power Stadium after their successful 2023/24 season which saw Leicester win the Championship.

While it is understood Blues stars are excited by Maresca’s style of play, they may be less thrilled by the shake-up of their diet.

Alvarez has gained a reputation for being a strict dietician from his spells working at Tottenham, Sevilla, Parma and Leicester.

According to the Daily Telegraph, it was the 53-year-old who banned salt, pepper, sauces, cake and fruit juice during his time in north London.

Meanwhile he removed fried eggs from the menu in his only season in the Midlands with the Foxes due to them being cooked in either butter or oil, which increases the saturated fat content.

It has been claimed that under Mauricio Pochettino‘s tutelage, Chelsea’s players were allowed to eat sweet treats.

And they were also able to enjoy salt and pepper, as well as juices and table sauces.

But they could now be taken off the menu when those who are not on international duty this summer return from their holidays on July 4.

One player all too familiar with the diet under Alvarez is talkSPORT co-host Darren Bent, who worked with the Spaniard when he was part of Juande Ramos’ coaching staff at Tottenham between 2007-08.

Despite the squad winning League Cup – the club’s only silverware in the last 16 years – he admitted they struggled to deal with the blandness.

It led to skipper Ledley King to plead for relaxation of the strict diet, which saw some players consume a cheeky McDonald’s on the sly.

Bent revealed: “There was one meat option, one fish, and maybe plain rice and vegetables – that was it. There was no salt, no pepper… no flavour! There was no crumble, either.

“When you’ve trained in the morning, you’ve had your lunch at the training ground, which isn’t usually that great, and then you get on a coach and get to the hotel and think, ‘I’m a bit hungry, I can’t wait for dinner’ and there’s just some dry rice…

“There was also dry pasta – a pasta option with no sauce. You try and eat pasta with no sauce… you’ve got to go! Pasta, no sauce, no salt or pepper, not even a tomato!

“Dry pasta, dry chicken, plain vegetables… and no crumble. People tried, people said to him: ‘Look, Juande, people are struggling…’

“Even our captain Ledley King was like: ‘Listen gaffer, we’re struggling here, what’s up with this food?’”

Before adding: “Honestly, it was tough. The food was really tough to eat. It sounds really silly, but honestly it was really tough.”