Enzo Maresca has still not officially started as Manchester City manager, even though Pep Guardiola’s departure was confirmed less than two weeks ago. The next era at the club is known to be his, but it has not yet begun.
That delay matters because City usually move fast when a major decision is made, and this is the kind of summer when they like the next step already in motion. Guardiola was previously announced as the man taking over from Manuel Pellegrini, and City are again being watched for how cleanly they handle a succession that has not yet been completed.
Thursday marks a year since City agreed the first of four signings in ten days before the Club World Cup, a burst of business that fits the way Khaldoon Al Mubarak and Ferran Soriano prefer to operate. They believe transfer work should be done early in the summer, not left until the final week or pushed into January, when other clubs can sense City are under pressure and push prices higher.
That is why the lack of an official Maresca announcement stands out. Manchester City’s owners have never liked to wait around, and the club has a history of moving decisively when it wants to set a course. Txiki Begiristain was announced in October 2024 to step down at the end of the season and be succeeded by Hugo Viana, yet the post-Guardiola era has still been put on pause while the club has not formally confirmed Maresca’s start date.
The friction is not about who the next man is. Around the club, Maresca is already understood to be the next man. The issue is that every day that passes without the handover being made official strips a little more polish from a transition City would normally expect to present as polished and immediate.
For supporters and the hierarchy, the unanswered question is now simple: when does the club turn the page in public, not just in private? Until that happens, Maresca remains the expected successor without the title, and City’s new era stays stuck in the gap between confirmation and arrival.
