The footballing world was taken aback when Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola announced that he would finally be leaving the dugout at the Etihad. The City manager had enjoyed a decade-long spell with the club, with trophies in abundance, following on from his success as a manager, having previously guided Barcelona and Bayern Munich to multiple honours.
Now, it’s the turn of the apprentice to emulate the master’s success. Enzo Maresca was at Guardiola’s side when City completed a historic treble in 2023 as assistant manager, before beginning his own managerial journey.
Maresca took the manager’s position at Leicester City for the 2023/24 Championship season following Leicester’s relegation from the Premier League. Maresca enjoyed a Pep-sized budget to help lift the Championship trophy at the end of the season, with Leicester returning to the Premier League at the first attempt.
Chelsea soon came calling, as Maresca was lured by the bright lights of London to take over at Stamford Bridge. It would be here that the Italian would discover the first bump in his managerial road, as Chelsea managed a run of form resulting in one win in seven games in 2025.
Prior to this, Chelsea under Maresca had lifted the UEFA Conference League trophy and finished in the top four of the Premier League rounding off with the FIFA Club World Cup. Unfortunately, tensions with the club hierarchy, coupled with the team’s poor form, led to Enzo walking away on New Year’s Day 2026 after 18 months in charge.
As Guardiola let it be known in May that his exit was imminent, speculation regarding the Spaniard’s successor gathered momentum. Maresca’s familiarity with the club and the fans made the Italian the natural choice, with Guardiola’s other active protégé, Mikel Arteta, securing the Premier League title with Arsenal. This chain of events sets up an intriguing meeting between the two former City assistants in this season’s title race with the first meeting coming at Wembley in the Community Shield.
Enzo Maresca has been largely successful on Manchester City’s pre-season tour of Asia, with two wins and a draw, which resulted in a penalty shootout defeat. Key transfers into City, both for now and the future, have come in the shape of Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest (£116m) and teenager Jeremy Monga from Leicester City (£10m).
As the fans get reacquainted with Maresca, himself a former player with Juventus and Palermo in Italy, amongst others, the boss chose his dream five-a-side team in an interview with the official Manchester City website. Enzo chose himself, Gianluigi Buffon, Zinedine Zidane, Ciro Ferrara and Alessandro Del Piero.
Describing Zidane as ‘elegant’ and Del Piero as an ‘artist’, Maresca described himself as: “He was just a normal player, but he would love to play with these kinds of players.” Manchester City begin Premier League life under Enzo Maresca at home to Bournemouth on the 23rd of August.