Replacing Pep Guardiola may well be the toughest job in football, but Enzo Maresca has already shown Manchester City that he is willing to work in the most challenging circumstances. It was back in 2020 when the Italian took his family away from the Amalfi Coast in the middle of the global pandemic in order to accept a job coaching City’s Under-21s.
If that showed Maresca’s willingness, the fact that City singled the coach out in a summer where restrictions had been so tight that even travel in football was limited was a sign of how much the former West Ham assistant had already impressed. Despite being unable to have a pre-season with the players or even being in place for the beginning of the campaign, Maresca immediately made his mark on academy staff by planning games over Zoom calls and making clear the improvements that could be made.
When he did belatedly arrive, Maresca won the Premier League 2 title for the first time in the club’s history. And he didn’t just win it, he obliterated the league; the youngest team were champions by 14 points after playing exhilarating football that saw them average more than three goals a game while keeping the second-best defensive record.
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Good players help, and with Liam Delap beating Cole Palmer to the Golden Boot and James McAtee being named the best player for the season, City were blessed with a fantastic crop. Equally, listen to the way those players talk about the way Maresca helped them to be better and it was easy for all to see Maresca was destined for bigger things.
He left after just a year, returning to Italy for his first job as a manager in senior football but only lasted a few months in Serie B with Parma before being shown the door. Guardiola had been thrilled with the way City’s youngsters had been developed though and Maresca was welcomed back onto the manager’s staff for the year in which the club would make more history and win the Treble.
Once again, City knew they wouldn’t have him for long and spells at Leicester and Chelsea have enhanced Maresca’s reputation – even if he was not always popular at either club. He has the approval of both Guardiola and his bosses, who are confident he can adapt into a winning system while making his own mark.
The system is important to note here. This isn’t Sir Alex Ferguson giving David Moyes a tap on the shoulder, it is a framework that pre-dates Guardiola and has been seriously beefed up since his arrival to make sure that they can be ready to move for the best managers as and when they are needed.
There have been several points over the last decade when Guardiola was expected to leave and didn’t, so this is not the first time that shortlists have been drawn up. The manager has raised the standards at City during his ten years so they are now more confident of attracting the best in the business, but it still has to be one that works within their framework.
As one senior official put it: “The challenge will be can the system flex to the next coach and can the coach flex to the system and do they meet in the middle? That means we need to recruit a coach that is prepared to flex a bit, and not somebody who is coming in doing it their way and there is no other way.”
With the exceptions of Guardiola and Haaland, City’s recruitment model has looked to find emerging talent that have the potential and ambition to lift themselves to the highest level. Even if some are doubting if Maresca can reach that level, the Blues are backing him to, and he ticks a lot of the boxes that they use to bring in the right players as well as staff.
As important, Maresca has made and kept himself available. Whether or not he left Chelsea as a direct result of informing them of talks with the Blues, he has been out of work since and willing to wait for a manager who City would have kept right up to the last day if he had decided to stay.
That may sound trivial but timing is a lot in football and there have been some coaches for whom the moment has passed and some who do not want to step into such shoes at this moment. The pay will no doubt help, yet stepping in to fill Guardiola’s shoes is not a task relished by many and it counts for plenty in the favour of those that are willing to put their hand up.
A known lover of chess who has been reading up during his time off, Maresca has patiently waited to make his move. There is no perfect candidate to succeed Guardiola, but City are backing one who is determined to become a Grand Master.
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