Man City – Pep Guardiola wrapped up his City farewell on Monday night before the club moved quickly on plans to rubber-stamp Enzo Maresca as his successor, after clearing almost their entire backroom staff and strengthening the case built through a long bond dating back
Monday night began with a farewell and ended with a parade bus. Pep Guardiola sat on it after his own exit ceremony, watching Manchester City supporters celebrate his players inside the country’s largest music venue.
By Tuesday, the momentum shifted from goodbye to succession. With confirmation that almost the entirety of Guardiola’s backroom team are leaving too, City were working on a deal to rubber-stamp Enzo Maresca as the man to replace him.
Guardiola is not expected to spend long without a job, either. He was landing in Barcelona with his family after packing up the apartment last week. while City worked through a process that still carries an expected compensation package to finalise. Interest from AC Milan. Tottenham. Juventus and Real Madrid—after the aftermath of Xabi Alonso—never materialised. which City insiders read as proof that Maresca. 46. believes he will soon be back in the country’s hottest seat.
There’s also the matter of the bond. Guardiola and Maresca are close in a way that goes beyond the usual handover. It stretches back beyond a meeting in 2022; Maresca had already been coach of City’s Elite Development Squad (EDS). Dinner—and likely a bottle of Sassicaia. Guardiola’s favourite red from the Tuscan village of Bolgheri—cemented him as someone City should keep under close attention.
The trust wasn’t just built in the past. Guardiola and Maresca spent the day together at the training ground. discussing ideas and reflecting on Maresca’s ill-fated first dip into senior management at Parma. the club he’d left City for months earlier. Guardiola’s impression of Maresca’s work coaching the kids also already carried weight. Maresca coached Cole Palmer. Liam Delap and Morgan Rogers to a league title. and Guardiola’s rating of that academy role rose further after the day together.
City’s environment also helps explain why the relationship matters. The trust of his past season coaching the kids—described as involving significant and daily contact with the first team—played into Guardiola’s thinking. especially because Guardiola can be picky about who gets greeted warmly and who doesn’t.
Soon, Maresca would be offered the assistant manager’s role. He was No 2 for the Treble season of 2022-23, a mark City believe carries weight on a CV. In that period, Maresca followed Guardiola’s work and acted as a channel to replicate the messages during training. He became a lieutenant in correcting small details in sessions, with body shape highlighted as a recurring focus at City. Those familiar with the set-up say he was more akin to Mikel Arteta in personality around the players than other assistants.
Approval didn’t stop at Guardiola. Legendary director of football Txiki Begiristain has spoken to director of football Hugo Viana about Maresca in recent months. and Begiristain’s own thoughts were shaped by watching the EDS in 2021. That squad, which also included James McAtee and Taylor Harwood-Bellis, finished 14 points clear of second-placed Chelsea. Begiristain had told Maresca in the past that if he joined another club and found Guardiola unavailable. he would be next choice.
There’s a further layer around how Guardiola’s foundations would be passed on. Players and staff close to the club count Vincent Kompany. Roberto De Zerbi and Maresca among Guardiola’s disciplines at the moment the Catalan’s positional play is being handed forward. The expectation is that they will follow Enrique’s lead in taking Guardiola’s fundamentals and tweaking and evolving them with a modern twist.
The timing of those changes matters because City have nearly cleared the coaching decks already. Set-piece guru James French is the only man remaining from Guardiola’s backroom staff. Pep Lijnders has decided to go his own way. City had attempted to keep him, and Kolo Toure is also among the staff set to depart.
Maresca is now deciding who else to add beyond his usual trusted circle. One name surfaced loudly on Monday: Ilkay Gundogan talked up returning as a coach. The same conversation included Gundogan insisting he still has two or three years left of his playing career. leaving room for uncertainty about when. if ever. that plan becomes real.
Guardiola’s departure and staff clear-out have happened fast—but so has Maresca’s thinking. He’s had time to plan ahead. splitting his time between London and the Maldives since leaving Chelsea on New Year’s Eve. While on the beach. he had the Adam Wells book Football and Chess for company. alongside a work by 17th century French philosopher Rene Descartes.
He also stepped into learning rather than idling. Maresca participated in a symposium with experts from different fields. discussing human behaviour and wanting to learn more about how to communicate with this specific generation of players. Ettore Messina. the renowned Italian basketball coach once at the San Antonio Spurs. debated ideas with him largely about dealing with personalities. Maresca also leaned on volleyball coach Julio Velasco.
Velasco, 74, has a long history with Guardiola’s predecessor at City. Guardiola contacted Velasco when a player at Brescia, at Barca and during his sabbatical. The guidance is carried in quotes passed along from that time: “Julio said you have to be very clear about one thing: don’t try to change the players.” The message continued: “The most important thing is knowing how to hit the key for each player. That’s the key to everything. He said he had one volleyball player who loves tactics. they talk for five hours about blocking. but others don’t want to talk about it after two minutes. They don’t care. Some like you to talk about them in front of everyone. It makes them important. Others want to be taken to your office.”.
Maresca has leaned into that approach over the past six months, with much of it shaped by an explosive experience at Stamford Bridge. That stint at Chelsea had been successful but explosive, and his stock is said to have risen since resigning at the start of the year.
For City. the final question isn’t whether Maresca can handle Guardiola’s message—it’s whether the room around him can carry the weight of the Treble. The club’s reasoning appears to be that relationships have already been built: the previous manager. the trust in his ability. and the way people around City count his readiness. There are no guarantees in football. but for the brains behind the decision. honed in on Maresca above some very talented alternatives. the pathway is clear enough to move with speed.
Manchester City Pep Guardiola Enzo Maresca Hugo Viana Txiki Begiristain Elite Development Squad Treble 2022-23 Ilkay Gundogan Pep Lijnders Kolo Toure James French Stamford Bridge Chelsea Sassicaia Mikel Arteta