Manchester City are continuing talks with Enzo Maresca this week about succeeding Pep Guardiola, with a contract expected to be finalised in the coming days. The discussions are centred on the timeline of Maresca’s appointment, the make-up of his backroom staff and other finer details.
The move has accelerated after City announced on Tuesday that Pep Ljinders, Kolo Toure, Lorenzo Buenaventura, Manel Estiarte and Xabi Mancisidor are leaving the Etihad. Maresca left Chelsea in January, but he is now widely expected to be named as Guardiola’s successor.
That expectation has been building for months. Chelsea were informed by Maresca last autumn that he had been the subject of interest from Manchester City over a possible eventual replacement for Guardiola, and the Italian’s links to the Etihad go back to the 2022/23 season, when he worked under the City manager as assistant coach. A year later, in 2023, City won the treble with Maresca on the staff.
The detail that complicates the cleanest version of the story is contractual. Maresca still had three-and-a-half years left on his Chelsea deal when he departed in January, and club lawyers will be taking a keen interest in his next move because compensation may well be due. His exit from Stamford Bridge was also acrimonious, which adds another layer to a return to the coaching orbit that first shaped him.
Guardiola, meanwhile, has left the door open to life beyond club football. He has previously spoken about international management and did not rule out taking the England job, saying: “I don't have any absolute plan about my future. I stop to rest and go to recover the time that I missed with my kids.” He added: “They are grown and there are many things I've not done I want to do. So I don't think for one second about anything related to football for the next years. I need to rest, I need to reflect.”
If the talks reach the finish line as expected, City will be completing one of the most significant succession plans in English football with a coach who already knows the club’s methods, the demands of the dressing room and the standard set by the treble season. What remains now is the formal agreement — and the question of how much this transition will cost before Maresca is back at the Etihad in a new role.
