Enzo Maresca’s Man City priorities: Convince the fans, reshape the midfield and improve the squad
The Enzo Maresca era has arrived at Manchester City. There will come a time, presumably, when Pep Guardiola’s name does not get mentioned in relation to everything that happens at the Etihad Stadium, but that will have to wait for now.
Part of City’s decision to hire Maresca as their new manager, which was confirmed on Monday in a three-year deal, is that he is expected to provide continuity after 10 years of Guardiola’s methods. Having worked closely with the departed Catalan as City’s under-23s coach, and especially as assistant first-team manager in the 2022-23 treble season, the 46-year-old knows how things work around the club and the ways his predecessor operated.
But he is also his own man and is expected to do certain things differently.
“Enzo inherits a squad and football organisation perfectly suited to reflect and evolve his brand of football,” City chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, said in the press release that accompanied the official announcement.
The Italian has a tough job ahead preparing a squad for the new season, considering City have more players away at the World Cup than any other club. Then, there are the usual transfer-market movements, which will be especially necessary following the departure of key player Bernardo Silva and with further exits possible for others who only arrived in the past 12 to 18 months.
Maresca had already been preparing for his new role before Guardiola had left the club, and continued throughout the summer before his appointment was made official. These will be the areas he will be paying close attention to in the coming weeks.
Communicate his vision for what City fans can expect
“I cannot wait to start coaching the players,” Maresca said in City’s statement. “I want us to win, play good football and enjoy the pressure of representing Manchester City.”
Those who know Maresca say he will approach the City job differently than Guardiola, in the sense that he has no interest in being a figurehead for the entire club and will focus on his role as a coach.
There is nothing wrong with that but it may take a little getting used to, at least at first, because Guardiola became so comfortable fielding conversations on all topics and grew his reputation among City fans beyond simply his success on the pitch by defending the club from scrutiny, whether around their later-overturned Champions League ban or the ongoing 115-plus charges.
City had seemed comfortable with that situation; chairman Al Mubarak is an influential figure around the club but his front-facing appearances are generally limited to post-season interviews, while CEO Ferran Soriano gave one interview to club channels in 2020, after that initial Champions League ban. Guardiola did the rest, and seemed to be in his element doing so, but things will be different now.
City believe Maresca is one of the few coaches in world football, alongside Vincent Kompany and Roberto De Zerbi, capable of continuing Guardiola’s work at the club, and that will be focused on what he does with the players and backroom staff.
It is fair to say his appointment has not captured the imagination of the entire fanbase. While City are extremely happy with their choice, and there are reasons to be optimistic that Maresca can take the club forward, those kinds of things will only be able to be proven down the line through performances on the pitch, so it will take a lot of supporters time to get used to this change.
It may be an overly journalistic way of looking at things but public image is important for football managers — a fine example is perhaps how Arne Slot suffered at Liverpool in comparison to predecessor Jurgen Klopp — and some engaging media appearances may help Maresca in the early days.
An early interview with the club, and his first press conferences on the pre-season tour to Hong Kong and South Korea, should help give an idea of what to expect.
Speaking in a video to announce his arrival, Maresca said: “I don’t have any doubts that they (the fans) are going to support the team and they are going to support the new manager.”
Find areas to consolidate… and improve
Manchester City have not focused on set pieces as much recently as some other Premier League teams (Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Few would expect Maresca to make City better, pound for pound, than they were under Guardiola, and suggesting as much could simply be unrealistic considering the level his predecessor was at when he arrived in Manchester, let alone by the time he left. Then there is a whole other topic regarding the players on the market these days: physical attributes have become more important than ever — would the artistry of a midfield containing players like Bernardo and Ilkay Gundogan be viable in the Premier League even if Guardiola remained in charge? It is doubtful.
The football City play is likely to be vastly different to the high point of Guardiola’s reign, no matter who is in charge. Some at City believe there is potential to do things differently in certain specific areas, too, for example around set pieces.
It may have been that Guardiola was philosophically opposed to the kind of penalty-box wrestling that became the norm in the Premier League last season, and that should be applauded if so, but City were certainly less of a set-piece threat than a side of their size should have been, and it may be an area where they can make strides under Maresca.
The Italian is also thought to want a bigger squad than Guardiola worked with.
He has seen, close-up, the behind-the-scenes details that make Guardiola a special coach, including how he included all first-team staff, from kit men to chefs, as often as possible to create a healthy environment where it felt as close to a big family as possible.
“He taught me the methodology, how to put it into practice, because you can imagine he does things but you then have to understand how he does them; working with him, I was lucky enough to see how to approach certain tasks,” Maresca said of Guardiola at a recent awards dinner in Italy.
“One thing that doesn’t often get remarked upon is his work ethic. When you hear people say he arrives at seven in the morning and leaves at seven at night, and is the last to turn out the lights at the office, that’s Pep through and through.”
Reshape the midfield
Bernardo Silva was adored by Pep Guardiola, who relied on him to perform a variety of roles (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
Bernardo leaving this summer after nine years is a huge loss for City, but perhaps it would have been even greater had Guardiola still been at the club.
The Portuguese knows exactly what a Guardiola team needs on the pitch and was crucial to the Catalan’s attempts to combat the Premier League’s increasing physicality. Despite most clubs lurching towards dynamic, powerful, man-to-man marking styles over possession-based football, Guardiola tried to lean into his philosophy as much as possible, and while he did make allowances, for example by using strong, fast, physical players such as Nico O’Reilly, Matheus Nunes, Abdukodir Khusanov and Antoine Semenyo, the heart — and brain — of his team revolved around Bernardo and Rodri.
The likely signing of Elliot Anderson for £116m ($153m) is a nod towards that increased need for physicality and energy in midfield, and suggests that the way to combat man-to-man marking and high pressing will be less reliant on geniuses like Bernardo and Rodri taking as many touches as they see fit. It is not that Guardiola was holding City back, nor that Maresca will play less subtle football, just that the Premier League is changing and City are having to change with it, regardless of who is in charge.
A glance at Chelsea’s midfield pairing of Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez under Maresca suggests the kind of dynamism he could opt for. The way that Anderson got involved all over the pitch for Nottingham Forest gives the impression there is something of the Bernardo in him, even just in terms of his willingness to roam, though his off-ball qualities have really stood out to those at City.
Even if Rodri were to leave too in the next year or two, a silver lining would be that the club may have more flexibility in looking for a replacement, given the way Guardiola had particular requirements for a position he himself used to play.
Strengthen the squad
As revealed by The Athletic on May 20, Maresca has been in contact with director of football Hugo Viana about transfer targets for the summer, with City having long since started plans for life after Guardiola. The club have reshaped their squad quite dramatically over the past 18 months, but some of those players brought to Manchester in recent windows could be leaving already in the coming months, which means more business than anticipated is likely to be required.
Nico Gonzalez, for example, is a possible exit in the coming window, having only joined 16 months ago, and there are doubts about Tijjani Reijnders, too, even though he was signed just last June. Savinho, who arrived in summer 2024, has interest from Tottenham Hotspur once more, a year after they initially moved for him.
City had already identified the need for a winger heading into the off-season, which may account for Savinho potentially leaving, or possibly Omar Marmoush, if it meant Semenyo being used as back-up to striker Erling Haaland. They have been looking for a right-back and a holding midfielder, having long known Bernardo would be leaving, and the simple fact Nunes became the only viable right-back at the club once Guardiola decided Rico Lewis was not physical enough for the modern Premier League.
One interesting area concerns the goalkeepers: much like Guardiola in 2016, Maresca is known to prefer a ball-player at the position, and will inherit Gianluigi Donnarumma, who possesses only rudimentary passing ability. James Trafford, whose nose was put out of joint when City signed Donnarumma last September, five weeks after he himself was brought in, has long been expected to leave in this window, but if Maresca really does want a keeper who is comfortable with the ball at his feet, then there could be a shift in dynamic right from day one, just like Guardiola with Joe Hart a decade ago. Sources close to Maresca suggest that he sees plenty to work with
This is not an ideal summer for Maresca to get his feet under the table, considering the number of City players at the World Cup, meaning that Asian tour will feature only very few of the first-team squad.
Donnarumma, Phil Foden, Rico Lewis and Savinho, if he is still at the club by then, will be available, so too will be Vitor Reis, the Brazilian defender who was signed in January 2025 then spent last season on loan at Girona in Spain, where he impressed despite their relegation from La Liga. The 20-year-old will be aiming to cement a place for himself in the City first team and a sparsely populated pre-season could help with that. Claudio Echeverri, the 20-year-old Argentine playmaker, may also be available after loans to Bayer Leverkusen of Germany and then Girona last season. Abdukodir Khusanov should also be involved, after Uzbekistan’s elimination at the World Cup group stage.
There is also Jack Grealish, who was not available for consideration for England’s World Cup squad because of the season-ending foot injury he sustained in January while on loan at Everton.
Guardiola always used to treat the start of a Premier League season as City’s pre-season as his squad were generally depleted by international tournaments, and that may be one approach Maresca looks to emulate. This summer, at least, he may not have a choice.