Enzo Maresca gives Allan verdict after Man City debut – ‘A bit different’

Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca spoke about Brazilian winger Allan after he got a goal and an assist on debut

Enzo Maresca thinks that Brazilian winger Allan will be better after discovering what English football is about in the Carabao Cup win over Norwich. The 22-year-old summer signing endured a tough start, repeatedly being outmuscled by Norwich defender Darlin Yongwa in the first 20 minutes.

However, he shrugged that off to set up fellow debutant Floyd Samba for the opening goal and followed that up with a confident run and finish after the break to score his first goal. Sporting director Hugo Viana has already warned that Allan will take some time to settle at the club, and Maresca has more experienced options in Antoine Semenyo, Jeremy Doku, Iliman Ndiaye, Rayan Cherki and Phil Foden.

But the Manchester City coach was still happy with what he got from the player on his first appearance – and the fans have already given him his own song. “It was a good performance. It was not easy for him, first time 90 minutes, first minutes here at home so it’s always complicated,” said Maresca.

“It was important for him to play 90 minutes and to see a little bit the English competition that is a bit different from South America so overall was good. He scored a goal, one assist, so I think he’s happy.

“We have different competitions. We have many games and we are just at the beginning of the season. The ones that play tonight are going to play Premier League or Champions League games because the season is long. We have him, Jeremy Doku is close to being back, Antoine, Ili, Ryan McAidoo. We have different kinds of wingers and hopefully we can use all of them.”