Enzo Maresca does not have a big squad at Manchester City and has sent five of his players on holiday
BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 24: Ryan McAidoo of Manchester City and Enzo Maresca, Manager of Manchester City look dejected after the Premier League 2026/27 match between Aston Villa FC and Manchester City at Villa Park on October 24, 2026 in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Ed Sykes/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)
BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 24: Ryan McAidoo of Manchester City and Enzo Maresca, Manager of Manchester City look dejected after the Premier League 2026/27 match between Aston Villa FC and Manchester City at Villa Park on October 24, 2026 in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Ed Sykes/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)
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Ryan McAidoo and Enzo Maresca
It is becoming clear at Manchester City that Enzo Maresca does not do anything by half. A manager who turned Pep Guardiola's office into a meeting room when he was appointed has led a new team to the top of the Premier League and also come out fighting for the club off the pitch.
More evidence will come on Wednesday night with no sign of Gianluigi Donnarumma, Elliot Anderson, Erling Haaland, Josko Gvardiol or Ruben Dias in the squad for the Carabao Cup game with Brighton. Fabian Hurzeler's side have had a brilliant start to the season yet Maresca has put the importance of rest for his star players above fielding his strongest team.
It is not as if this has been their only rest either; Anderson and Gvardiol were on the bench last week against Ipswich, Haaland sat out the AEK Athens game while Dias was taken off at half-time against PSG. These players could just be rested for Wednesday's game but the decision has been made to give them three full days off that allows them to give their bodies and minds a holiday.
Maresca said several of his players needed a proper rest and he is delivering on that promise to them. Where he thinks time can be found for them to get away from everything, they will have that opportunity and this week is one of them.
In their absence, it can only benefit the academy. Ryan McAidoo came on in the second half at Villa Park on Saturday and if five players are dropping out of the squad there are places up for grabs; there is the potential for Marcus Bettinelli, Matheus Nunes and Allan to come in yet there should still be a youthful presence in the squad if not the team.
Floyd Samba started in the last round of the Carabao Cup against Norwich, and also led the line against AEK Athens - a game where McAidoo and defender Kaden Braithwaite came on. These players are not making every squad but they are getting regular opportunities, which goes back to something Maresca said in one of his first press conferences.
"I am always very open with young players," he explained in Hong Kong during City's pre-season. "At Leicester, it was a record number of debuts from the academy. And at Chelsea it was also a record number of debuts from the academy."
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There is some way to go for Maresca to overhaul Guardiola's tally, but so far he has kept around the young players that impressed him in the summer and played them in every competition. The Brighton game this week looks like more evidence of that pledge being kept.
It leaves the manager open to criticism if things go wrong on Wednesday; the Carabao Cup has been a profitable competition for City in recent history and Brighton have shown they cannot be underestimated. Maresca, though, has made it clear already that he is going to do things his way.