Reports have revealed that Enzo Maresca, who used to coach Chelsea and Leicester City, is the frontrunner for the Manchester City job when Guardiola leaves. The 46-year-old Italian, who is currently without a club, is still strongly linked to the Etihad Stadium hot seat as Guardiola’s future becomes more and more uncertain.
Guardiola is said to have personally backed Maresca to take over for him. Maresca was on Guardiola’s coaching staff at Manchester City before. The ex-Chelsea manager was the Under-23s coach for a while before becoming Guardiola’s assistant during the 2022–23 season, when City won the Treble. This gave him a deep understanding of City’s football philosophy and how the club works.
In the last few months, Guardiola has said many nice things about his former assistant. The City boss said before that Maresca was one of the best managers in the world and that he didn’t get enough credit for what he did at Chelsea.
Maresca’s 18-month stay at Chelsea came to an end on New Year’s Day after a major breakdown in his working relationship with the club’s top officials. During his time at Stamford Bridge, the Italian led Chelsea to win the Conference League, the FIFA Club World Cup, and a spot in the Champions League again by finishing fourth in the Premier League.
Chelsea quickly found a replacement for Maresca. They hired Liam Rosenior from BlueCo’s sister club Strasbourg on 6 January for six and a half years. The 41-year-old Englishman took over as the club’s fifth permanent head coach since 2021.
Guardiola Set to Decide Manchester City Future After Carabao Cup Final Against Arsenal
Guardiola will reportedly take a break from his day-to-day work at Manchester City to think about his future after this weekend’s Carabao Cup final against Arsenal at Wembley. The Spaniard has been in charge since 2016 and has one year left on his current contract. There have already been informal talks between him and Maresca.
The final of the Carabao Cup will take place on Sunday, 22 March, at Wembley Stadium. The game will start at 4.30 pm GMT. City are missing some important defenders going into the game. Josko Gvardiol is out because of an injury, and Marc Guehi is not eligible to play.
If Guardiola decides to leave this summer, it seems very likely that Maresca will be the one to keep City’s reign of power going. This is an interesting possibility because his talks with the club that now wants to hire him were part of the reason he left Chelsea.