May 19 – Manchester City are preparing to bring in Enzo Maresca as a replacement for Pep Guardiola, who is set to leave at the end of the season.
While the club has yet to officially confirm Guardiola’s departure, reports suggest Sunday’s home match against Aston Villa could mark his final game in charge in the blue half of Manchester.
The timing would bring the curtain down on one of the most successful managerial eras English football has ever seen.
Since arriving from Bayern Munich in 2016, Guardiola has delivered six Premier League titles, a long-awaited UEFA Champions League crown, multiple domestic cups and a style of football that redefined expectations around possession-based play in England.
Those six titles could yet become seven, though City need to win both their remaining games against Bournemouth and Villa, whilst also needing Arsenal to slip up in their final game against Crystal Palace.
Saturday’s 1-0 FA Cup final win over Chelsea added another trophy to the collection, while City also lifted the League Cup earlier this spring.
Yet despite the silverware continuing to arrive, there has increasingly been a sense this cycle was nearing its conclusion.
Guardiola signed a contract extension through to 2027 last November during a difficult spell for the club, admitting at the time he “didn’t want to let the club down” amid questions over City’s direction and standards.
Reports suggest former City assistant Maresca has long been lined up as Guardiola’s successor. The former Chelsea manager remains highly regarded within the City Football Group structure despite leaving Stamford Bridge under a cloud earlier this year.
In his decade at the club, Guardiola has helped to reshape recruitment, youth development, tactical structures and the wider culture of the football operation, as his City side became the benchmark many clubs attempted to imitate.
His reign also coincided with the commercial and global expansion of the club, helping elevate City into one of football’s most recognisable brands alongside sustained success in Europe.
Guardiola arrived in England facing questions over whether his football could survive the intensity of the Premier League. Ten years later, he leaves having fundamentally changed it.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at [email protected]