After three years away, Enzo Maresca has walked back through the doors of the Etihad — this time as the man tasked with following the greatest manager in Manchester City’s history. The 46-year-old Italian has signed a three-year deal to succeed Pep Guardiola, who won 20 trophies across a decade in charge.
Maresca is no stranger to the club. He was Guardiola’s assistant during the Treble-winning 2022-23 campaign, and had two previous stints with City’s academy. But his rapid rise in management has been extraordinary: he took his first head coach role only in 2021, and spent a turbulent spell at Chelsea before returning to Manchester.
“Enzo Maresca returns to Manchester City on a three-year deal to replace Pep Guardiola after two previous stints at the club.”
“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. “And we are going to try to do the most important thing in football which is try to win, to achieve important things. Then the day-by-day is also going to dictate the way I will work.”
His appointment underlines a deep continuity. Maresca is part Italian, part Spanish in his coaching and life. His Spanish influence stems from his family and his exposure to Guardiola’s Barcelona while playing for Sevilla and Malaga. In Spain he also met his trusted assistant, Willy Caballero, and his children were born there; Spanish is now the main language spoken at home.
It was his “football father”, former Manchester City and West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini, who first identified during Maresca’s playing days that he had the qualities to become a coach. Guardiola himself described Maresca as “one of the best managers in the world”.
City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak was open in his assessment: “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.”
Maresca now faces the unenviable task of following Guardiola. He has called the job a “huge challenge”. As part of his move, City will pay compensation to Chelsea — a reminder of how quickly his career has accelerated. The question now is whether he can sustain City’s dominance while forging his own identity.