Manchester City's Portuguese midfielder #20 Bernardo Silva reacts as Manchester United's Ivorian ... \[+\] midfielder #16 Amad Diallo celebrates scoring the team's second goal during the English Premier League football match between Manchester City and Manchester United at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, north west England, on December 15, 2024. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)
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Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca developed into an elite coach capable of marshaling a team of stars during his stint at the Etihad Stadium.
Hired by Manchester City in 2020 after being recommended by former boss Manuel Pelligrini, the Italian led the club's second team, the 'Elite Development Squad', for a single season.
The reigning champions' reserves were rarely called upon that year as the well-stocked first team regained the Premier League title, but Maresca impressed.
Approaching the job like he was heading up the entire operation, the Chelsea gaffer changed the mentality of the young players.
"When Enzo came in, he said, 'We want to make history and win the league.' And we went and did it. Training got more intense," explained youth team graduate James McAtee.
Having delivered the Premier League 2 title, Maresca was poached by Italian giants Parma, but after an ill-fated spell in Emilia-Romagna soon returned as Pep Guardiola's assistant coach in 2022.
Taking the day-to-day drills with the first team, he was part of an extraordinary Treble-winning season.
The Mancunians let him leave again, this time to Leicester City, where he showed the team-building prowess that earned him the Championship title and the Chelsea job.
It should not be a surprise that an apprentice of Pep Guardiola would go on to take one of the biggest jobs in England.
Years of dominance from the Catalan coach mean those who've worked with him, like Mikel Arteta, or under his guidance, like Vincent Kompany, find themselves installed at giant clubs Arsenal and Bayern Munich with a fraction of the previous credentials that were expected for a candidate.
And whilst almost no one would argue that Pep Guardiola should have been jettisoned for any of those individuals he'd helped develop, the judgment of management to dispense with others should be called into question as we seek to understand the causes of the club's disastrous run of form.
COBHAM, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 23: Jadon Sancho, Cole Palmer, Noni Madueke and Tosin Adarabioyo of ... \[+\] Chelsea during a training session at Chelsea Training Ground on September 23, 2024 in Cobham, England. (Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
Chelsea FC via Getty Images
Zapped of energy and existing on already aging legs, the midfield combination of Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva has been one of the main malfunctioning components of the Manchester City machine this season.
The pair struggled repeatedly when pressed by more energetic young opponents, but Guardiola felt unable or unwilling to try an alternative.
They are far from alone. The age profile in the Manchester City squad has become achingly obvious, with stars like Kyle Walker and Kevin De Bruyne now well into their 30s and struggling.
This is in stark contrast to Maresca's team, most of whom are a full decade younger and are starting to look like serious title contenders with each passing game.
The shame for Manchester City is in who half of those Chelsea starlets are.
Against Liverpool in October, the Blues starting lineup had Tosin Adarabioyo in Defense protected by Romeo Lavia, Cole Palmer in the number 10 role, and Jadon Sancho on the wing.
Those players, deemed good enough to play against the league leaders, had come through the Manchester City youth system and been sold at various stages for a healthy profit.
Although each departure has nuances, the bare facts are that the potential Guardiola could be used to plug the aging gaps in his team, which is long gone and flourishing elsewhere.
The most egregious and illustrative of those deals is the decision to sell Romeo Lavia in 2022.
That summer, Manchester City let defensive midfield linchpin Fernandunho depart, leaving only Rodri in the holding role.
However, instead of promoting Lavia, the Belgian starlet was sold to Southampton for a healthy fee, and City brought Kalvin Phillips from Leeds United.
Although the England midfielder's spell in Manchester was an unmitigated disaster, that season, the club won the Treble, and few questions were asked about the decision.
But with no youthful prospect hired to deputize for Rodri, Manchester City essentially planted a ticking timebomb in its engine room.
If the Spaniard had an injury, as has been the case this year, they would be in trouble.
An effort was made to address this when the club tried to sign Declan Rice the following summer. However, when he joined Arsenal, they decided to risk it, and luckily for City last season, Rodri escaped injury.
Selling youth players and bringing in established outsiders was not restricted to the Phillips Lavia call. From 2019 until last summer, the club consistently pursued established stars over players with potential.
For the past five years, City has signed a maximum of three players each summer who are expected to play first-team soccer.
Rarely have any of those recruits been under 23; most have been 25 or older. There are exceptions, like Ferran Torres or Julian Alavarez, but they've been swiftly sold when a generous offer arose.
And whilst the likes of Jack Grealish, Manuel Akanji, Erling Haaland, Nathan Ake, and Ruben Dias have been successes who delivered unparalleled results, the club also now has a squad in their late 20s or early 30s.
There was a shift last summer when Jeremy Doku and Josko Gvardiol were hired, but there is a near decade-long gap between those younger players in many cases.
This brings us to the man responsible for squad building: Manchester City's director of football, Txiki Begiristain. He announced he was leaving at the end of this season after 12 years in North West England.
And whilst we shouldn't make the entire legacy of a man who has overseen seven league titles and a Champions League win about the current decline, we need to hold him accountable.
It is understood that he planned to depart, you guessed it, five years ago, around the time the focus on signing established talent began.
Given that he had always planned to retire at 55, it's hard not to speculate how that affected his forward planning.
City's sudden decline is not an accident. Parts of the team were allowed to age, and the young blood was hastily sold.
Begiristain is being shown up not for signing bad players but for letting the wrong ones leave.
There is no shame in being surpassed by a youthful Chelsea team, but there is having them leapfrog you with youngsters who could have been your future.