Enzo Maresca has barely had time to settle into his new office at Manchester City before being confronted with an early crisis: the club could be without influential midfielder Rodri for key games against Arsenal and Manchester United at the start of the season.
The nature of the injury remains unclear — the club describing it only as a 'mystery' blow — but the timing threatens to undermine the Italian's first weeks at the helm. Maresca, 46, signed a three-year deal to succeed Pep Guardiola, who won 20 trophies in a decade at the Etihad. The former Chelsea manager returns to City after serving as Guardiola's assistant during the Treble-winning 2022-23 campaign.
“Enzo Maresca inherits a Manchester City side rocked by a mystery injury to Rodri ahead of key early season games.”
“Probably the reason why I am here is also because the idea from the club is to maintain the same style of football, the same idea,” Maresca said on his appointment. “And we are going to try to do the most important thing in football which is try to win, to achieve important things.”
City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak noted Maresca's debt to Guardiola while insisting the new boss has his own identity. “He is one of Pep's assistants at one point in his career so definitely — he will tell you — he is going to have taken a lot of inspiration in the philosophy of Pep, and you see that in his football. But he has also evolved his own philosophy,” Khaldoon said.
Maresca's rapid rise — his first head coach role came only in 2021 — has been shaped by his Spanish family ties and time at Sevilla and Malaga facing Guardiola's Barcelona. His 'football father', former Manchester City and West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini, identified his coaching potential during Maresca's playing days. Now the Italian faces the unenviable task of following Guardiola while navigating an early injury setback that could define his opening fixtures.