(AGENCIES)
Enzo Maresca was hired as the successor to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City on Monday, with the Italian taking on the daunting task of replacing one of football’s greatest ever coaches.
Maresca signed a three-year deal following a delay in the announcement while City negotiated with Chelsea, the Premier League rival he left in January.
The 46-year-old Maresca was City’s academy coach in the 2020-21 season and Guardiola’s assistant in 2022-23 - the year the team won the Premier League-Champions League-FA Cup treble.
After that, Maresca joined Leicester, which he led to the title in the second-tier Championship in England before immediately joining Chelsea.
He was at Chelsea from June 2024 to January 2026, winning the Club World Cup and Conference League titles and also qualifying for the Champions League.
Maresca left at the start of January.
"Manchester City is a club I know very well and to have the chance to manage this team is a brilliant opportunity for me,” Maresca said in a City statement.
"City is an incredibly well-run football club. Everything they do is innovative, planned and purposeful. For a manager, that is a dream situation. It provides the consistency I need to do my job effectively.”
He noted, “This will be my third spell here. I know this Club, I know the demands and I know the expectations.
“The quality of the people who work here is what makes it so special, and I want to thank them for showing faith in my ability.
“I cannot wait to start coaching the players. I want us to win, play good football and enjoy the pressure of representing Manchester City.”
City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak said Maresca’s preferred style of football suited the club. "He is rejoining an organisation that is entirely in lock-step with his ambition and hunger for achievement,” Al Mubarak said, "and his return to Manchester City is therefore a welcome natural next step for both him and the club.
"Enzo inherits a squad and football organization perfectly suited to reflect and evolve his brand of football, and we are all very much looking forward to seeing the impact he can have in building further on the club’s success.”
Chief Executive Officer Ferran Soriano added, “Enzo was the stand-out candidate in our considerations. We know his personality and his vision for the way football should be played. He is a man with integrity, charisma and passion.
“In addition to his successes at Chelsea and Leicester, his City track record speaks for itself. He managed our EDS team with distinction and was a key contributor to the historic Treble season.
“We will ensure that he receives everything he needs to be successful here and we are all very much looking forward to seeing his positive impact on the next phase of the Club’s progress.”
Tough act to follow
Guardiola was asked in his final news conference was City manager if he had a message to his successor, whoever that might be. "Just be yourself,” Guardiola said. "The club will support you unconditionally, that’s the biggest compliment. "Be yourself … be free and your ideas and work a lot. Everything will be fine.”
Guardiola has bequeathed a strong squad to Maresca, though. City won the domestic cup double - the English League Cup and the FA Cup - this season and ran Arsenal close in the Premier League title race by going 15 matches unbeaten in the league until a much-changed lineup went down to a final-round loss to Aston Villa in Guardiola’s farewell game on May 24.